Combat Search and

Rescue in Desert Storm

DARREL D. WHITCOMB
Colonel, USAFR, Retired

Air University Press

Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama

September 2006

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 Air University Library Cataloging Data

Whitcomb, Darrel D., 1947-

Combat search and rescue in Desert Storm / Darrel D. Whitcomb.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
A rich heritage: the saga of Bengal 505 Alpha—The interim years—Desert Shield—
Desert Storm week one—Desert Storm weeks two/three/four—Desert Storm week
five—Desert Sabre week six.
ISBN 1-58566-153-8
1. Persian Gulf War, 1991—Search and rescue operations. 2. Search and rescue
operations—United States—History. 3. United States—Armed Forces—Search and
rescue operations. I. Title.
956.704424 –– dc22

Disclaimer

Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the
author and do not necessarily represent the views of Air University, the United States Air Force, the
Department of Defense, or any other US government agency. Cleared for public release: distribution
unlimited.

© Copyright 2006 by Darrel D. Whitcomb (Learn5252@aol.com).

Air University Press

131 West Shumacher Avenue
Maxwell AFB AL 36112-6615
http://aupress.maxwell.af.mil

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 This work is dedicated to the memory of
the brave crew of Bengal 15.
Without question, without hesitation, eight soldiers
went forth to rescue a downed countryman—
only three returned.
God bless those lost, as they rest in their eternal peace.

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THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
 Contents

Chapter Page

DISCLAIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii

DEDICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii

ABOUT THE AUTHOR . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

1 A RICH HERITAGE: THE SAGA OF

BENGAL 505 ALPHA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2 THE INTERIM YEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

3 DESERT SHIELD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

4 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE . . . . . . . . 81

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

5 DESERT STORM WEEKS

TWO/THREE/FOUR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

6 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE . . . . . . . . 191

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

7 DESERT SABRE WEEK SIX . . . . . . . . . 209

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

8 POSTSCRIPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

APPENDIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

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 CONTENTS

Page

BIBLIOGRAPHY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Illustrations

Map

Week 1: 17–23 January . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Weeks 2-4: 24 January–13 February . . . . . 168
Week 5: 14–20 February . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Week 6: 21–28 February . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Photo

Brig Gen Dale Stovall . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Capt Bennie Orrell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Jolly Greens were legendary in
Southeast Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Brig Gen Rich Comer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Col George Gray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Capt Randy O’Boyle and
Brig Gen Buster Glosson . . . . . . . . . . . 54
The Apaches of Task Force Normandy . . . . 91
MH-53 pilot, Steve Otto . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Crewmembers on the Stroke 65
recovery attempt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Col Dave Eberly, pilot of Corvette 03 . . . . . 123
Maj Tom Griffith of Corvette 03 . . . . . . . . 123
The crew of Slate 46 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

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 CONTENTS

Photo Page

1st Lt Randy Goff and Capt P. J. Johnson . . . 148

MH-53s stood CSAR alert at ArAr . . . . . . . 176
Capt Bill Andrews with other members
of Mutt flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
LTC Bill Bryan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
The crew of Bengal 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
MAJ Rhonda Cornum . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Capt Tom Trask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Tables

1 JRCC Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

2 Analysis of combat losses . . . . . . . . . . . 259

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 About the Author

Darrel D. Whitcomb, right, with Gen Charles A. “Chuck” Horner, USAF, retired.

Darrel D. Whitcomb is a 1969 graduate of the US Air Force

Academy. He served three tours in Southeast Asia as a cargo
pilot and forward air controller and subsequently flew the A-37
and A-10 with the 926th Fighter Wing and the 442d Fighter
Wing. He also served in fighter plans on the Air Staff and in
mobilization plans on the Joint Staff. Most recently, he served
on the faculty at Air Command and Staff College and as the
mobilization assistant to the commander of the Air Force Doc-
trine Center, both at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. He retired from
the Air Force Reserve in 1999 with the rank of colonel. He was
also a career airline pilot for Delta Airlines, retiring in 2003.
As a noted writer on aviation history and combat search and
rescue, Colonel Whitcomb has published numerous articles in
magazines and periodicals including Air and Space Power Jour-
nal. His first book, The Rescue of Bat 21, was published in
1998 (US Naval Institute Press). Still active in aviation, he re-
cently completed a tour as a contract pilot in Iraq.

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 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Colonel Whitcomb is a graduate of Squadron Officer School,

Maxwell AFB, Alabama; Army Command and General Staff
College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; and National War College,
Fort McNair, Washington, DC. He lives with his wife in Fairfax,
Virginia, where he works part-time as a contract analyst with
TATE Incorporated.

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 Foreword

As a third-class cadet at the US Air Force Academy in July of

1970, I saw the war in Vietnam as a major determinant of my
future. I just did not know then what part I might play in the
conflict and felt a youthful, impatient need to decide on my Air
Force career so I could see myself in what looked like the war
of my generation. I found my calling on a beautiful California
afternoon when 22 of us cadets were treated to a ride in an HH-
53C Super Jolly Green Giant of the Air Rescue and Recovery
Service, a part of the Military Airlift Command.
I enjoyed the ride. I sat beside a pararescueman, or “PJ,”
looking out at the treetops as we skimmed along. Turns were
exciting, with the crew windows open up front and the wind
flowing through the cabin. Unlike the rides I had taken in fight-
ers and bombers, I was not breathing through a rubber mask,
and I felt like I was in touch with the world below—a partici-
pant instead of a spectator. Afterwards, TSgt Stu Stanaland,
the PJ, explained that the pilot, Maj Marty Donohue, was one
of the best in the rescue business.
Months later back in school, we were all captivated by news
of the attempt to rescue US prisoners of war (POW) at Son Tay
in North Vietnam. When I learned that the raid had been con-
ducted using rescue helicopters, I read all I could find about
the mission. President Nixon later decorated the mission lead-
ers, saying they had performed flawlessly and fought coura-
geously without losing a man; and the mission had not suc-
ceeded only because of bad intelligence—the POWs had been
moved from the Son Tay camp. As I watched the presentation
on television, I spotted Major Donohue among the honorees.
Now I was hooked. I made a career decision to fly helicopters,
get into rescue, and join those guys for life. That resolution
held up through my senior year when the commandant of ca-
dets told all us prospective helicopter pilots we were making a
mistake that would deny us a rewarding career. “If you become
helicopter pilots, you will not be in my Air Force,” he said.
Still, it was what I wanted most to do and what I did. While
in HH-53 transition, the most respected instructor pilot—an
Air Force Cross recipient named Ben Orrell—told me rescue

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 FOREWORD

was a job to be proud of and that it would be sufficient in itself

to make a career rewarding. Soon after, and still a second lieu-
tenant, I flew my first combat mission—the Mayaguez recovery
in 1975. We flew as wingman to another HH-53, which included
Sergeant Stanaland among its crew members. I had joined
those rescue guys.
The years between then and now have seen many changes but
almost nothing new. The rescue men—and now also women—
are called to enter dangerous territory, flying low and slow, going
where a usually faster, less-vulnerable aircraft has recently been
shot down. Instead of having a couple of days’ time to prepare
and entering the mission into the air tasking order (ATO) several
days prior to execution, the rescue folks go there from a “cold
start” launch from alert status. They could enhance their prepa-
ration by reading the ATO and plotting where the danger areas
for shoot-downs might be, but a large, complex air campaign
may cover an entire country. As you may deduce from this book,
a major lesson learned from Desert Storm is that making the
command and control arrangements murky and time-consum-
ing further complicates the task of air rescue. Also, they may not
be adequately equipped for the mission, yet the demand for im-
mediate, must-succeed operations remains.
During the first Gulf War of 1991, air rescue was in a state of
transition and largely performed by aircraft and crews assigned
to special operations units. These units were equipped with
helicopters originally procured to perform rescue and modified
for their new missions. Remember, the Son Tay raid had been
performed by crews and aircraft assigned to air rescue, but the
mission concept more closely resembled a special operation.
Likewise, the SS Mayaguez recovery was a rescue mission per-
formed by air-assaulting a Cambodian island with US marines
carried on Special Operations and Air Rescue Service H-53s.
Special ops and rescue have closely related needs in terms of
aircraft, crew training, and mission profiles. These are mission
cousins, and the need for crews to consider themselves blood
relations is clear.

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 FOREWORD

As detailed in this book, the young ones who aspired to be-

come rescue guys in one generation often become the rescue
leaders of the next. Just as I learned from and admired Ben Or-
rell, some of the pilots in the squadron I commanded in Desert
Storm (Tom Trask, Tim Minish, Paul Harmon, and Mike Kings-
ley) commanded squadrons themselves in later conflicts in
Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. As you read the stories of their
missions in Desert Storm, you will also better understand their
preparations to perform air rescue and special operations in
those later conflicts. But those stories are for other authors.
In this book, Darrel Whitcomb provides a wonderfully objec-
tive accounting of combat search and rescue as we performed it
during Desert Storm. He accurately discusses the decisions be-
ing made and their results. This work gives those who will do
these missions in the future the chance to see things and ask
the types of questions which, when answered, may lead to their
success:
What is the command and control arrangement?
Who does the search part of search and rescue?
Who makes the launch decision?
What are the launch criteria for a rescue attempt?
Will these arrangements speed up or slow decision making?
Have we adequately rehearsed getting the launch decision
passed to the alert crews?
Have we adequately rehearsed the combat link between the
search aircraft and the rescue aircraft?
Do we have the right equipment in the hands of potential
survivors?
Are the potential survivors trained for the role they must play
in their rescue?
As Darrel Whitcomb examines these questions and much
more in writing this book, we get the chance to learn and to

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 FOREWORD

become the rescue guys we would all like to be or would like to

have standing alert in case we get into trouble. This book offers
anyone a good start on that goal, on a wonderfully rewarding
career, and a lifetime devoted to it.

RICHARD L. COMER
Major General, USAF, Retired

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 Introduction

“In combat operations, aircraft will be shot down,” states Gen

Charles A. “Chuck” Horner in his book, Every Man a Tiger.1 Such
has been the case since aerial combat became a form of warfare.
Implicit in this fact is the realization that the aircrews that
fly those aircraft will be put at risk of capture. Over time, our
nation has developed a robust capability to rescue airmen or
any military personnel put at risk behind enemy lines. Each
service has a rescue capability. The Air Force and Navy have
dedicated rescue squadrons. The Army relies on its line heli-
copter battalions, as do the special operations units. The Ma-
rines have pre-trained teams, called TRAP (tactical recovery of
aircraft and personnel), on call with each Marine air ground
task force.
Originally, this mission was labeled search and rescue or SAR.
SAR, in its original use by the US Air Force Air Rescue Service,
meant recovery of personnel anywhere. When our rescue forces
were deployed to Korea and Southeast Asia, they referred to all
rescue missions, whether in enemy or friendly territory, by that
term. The SAR stories from those conflicts are legion.
After Southeast Asia, analysts and force planners came to
the realization that there was a fundamental difference between
SAR in a permissive area and in an area that was not permis-
sive (i.e., under enemy control). This second condition is now
called combat search and rescue or CSAR. At the time of Desert
Storm, the two forms of rescue were defined thusly:
Search and Rescue (SAR): Use of aircraft, surface craft,
submarines, personnel, and equipment to locate and recover
personnel in distress on land or at sea.
Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR): A specialized SAR
task performed by rescue-capable forces to effect recovery of
distressed personnel from hostile territory during contingency
operations or wartime.2
The development of this rescue capability has been well es-
tablished. Dr. Robert Futrell documented our efforts in Korea
in The United States Air Force in Korea, 1950–1953. His work
was followed by Dr. Earl Tilford’s Search and Rescue in South-

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 INTRODUCTION

east Asia, which eloquently chronicled the heroic efforts of the

rescue crews in that conflict who brought back literally thou-
sands of airmen. It extensively documented what is now con-
sidered the “golden age” of rescue.
This work is meant to follow in those traditions and will fo-
cus on our CSAR efforts in the Persian Gulf War of 1991, or
more specifically, the period of Operation Desert Storm, 17
January to 28 February 1991.
The initial reviews of CSAR in Desert Storm have been tepid
at best. Dr. Richard Hallion, the Air Force historian, wrote in
his Storm over Iraq that:
One disappointment [in Desert Storm] was combat search and rescue
(CSAR). . . . In the Gulf War, CSAR fell under the control of the Special
Operations Command Central Command (SOCCENT), with all US CSAR
forces placed under the management of Air Force Special Operations
Command Central. While CSAR forces operated with their traditional
reputation for bravery, dedication, and willingness to take chances to
rescue downed aircrew, there were simply too few aircraft available to
meet the requirements of both combat search and rescue and special
operations needs. . . . Only three of 64 downed aircrew—roughly five
percent—were actually picked up. . . . Indeed, only a total of seven
CSAR missions were actually launched.3
Tom Clancy and Gen Chuck Horner, again in Every Man a
Tiger, continue this theme when they state, “In DESERT STORM,
the numbers rescued, as compared with the numbers downed,
were low: eighteen men and one woman became prisoners of
war as a result of aircraft shoot-downs. Seven combat search
and rescue missions were launched, resulting in three saves.
That’s one saved for every six lost. Not an inspiring record.”4
Initial impressions are powerful. The passage of time, how-
ever, allows a more thorough examination of the record as data
becomes available and the veterans begin to speak. The exami-
nation of this conflict in a historical context suggests the fol-
lowing conclusions:
1. The Iraqi/Kuwaiti theater of operations was a challenging
one for CSAR. The area was mostly barren, affording little
cover for evaders to exploit or for aircraft to terrain mask.
The weather was harsh, and the local populace was loyal
to Saddam Hussein. Also, Iraqi air defenses were extensive
and lethal.

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 INTRODUCTION

2. This conflict reinforced the fundamental truth that the

best CSAR strategy is not to get your aircraft shot down
in the first place.
3. On the eve of Desert Storm, Air Force CSAR capability
had been dramatically reduced from its peak during the
war in Southeast Asia. Its primary recovery helicopters,
the HH-53s, had been transferred to special operations.
The remaining HH-3s were marginally combat-capable
or survivable in a high-threat area. New HH-60s were
only beginning to arrive. Navy combat rescue capability
had been almost completely moved into its reserve
component.
4. At the same time, the expectations of CSAR among the
flying crews were high. This was based on the recorded
history from Southeast Asia and the war stories passed
down by the veterans of that conflict to the young troops
in the Gulf. These expectations were reinforced by specific
comments of some senior Air Force officers on the very
eve of battle.
5. The non-rescue of an F-15E crew early in the conflict
caused a morale problem among the F-15E units.
6. The Air Force component of Central Command (CENTAF)
did not have a quick, accurate, and reliable way to locate
downed airmen or discretely communicate with them.
7. Regardless, rescue personnel from the various services
and Special Operations Command Central Command
(SOCCENT) executed numerous joint missions and several
SAR missions. Additionally, there were several intraservice
rescues of note.
8. At no time were special operations forces (SOF) aircraft
“not available” for rescue missions. On some occasions,
though, SOF commanders did not dispatch aircraft
because their assessment of the situation was that the
mission was just too dangerous. It should be noted that
during the conflict, zero rescue personnel were lost or
killed on rescue missions directed by SOCCENT. However,
a line Army crew was shot down on a rescue mission.
That was Bengal 15, which was dispatched from the Air

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 INTRODUCTION

Force tactical air control center. That particular mission

will be examined later in detail.
9. Making CENTAF responsible for CSAR and then with-
holding operational control of the combat recovery assets
was a violation of the principle of unity of command.
Two explanations are necessary to ensure the reader’s un-
derstanding:
1. Survivor call signs. When an aircraft was shot down
and the pilot ejected, he would maintain his call sign, like
Benji 53. If the aircraft had a crew, then a discrete call
sign had to be assigned to each individual. This was done
by adding an alphabetical suffix based on the phonetic
alphabet to the aircraft call sign. So, if an F-14 with a
crew of two and a call sign of Slate 46 were shot down,
the pilot would be referred to as Slate 46 Alpha, and the
radar intercept officer as Slate 46 Bravo.
2. CSAR as a mission. CSAR is a three-phase process
that involves: locating personnel at risk of capture in
enemy territory, authenticating the personnel, and then
prosecuting a combat recovery. This requires aircraft and
assets of varying capabilities. Far too many historical
tracts on rescue equate CSAR with combat recovery only.
This lack of clarity was an issue in Desert Storm.
Overall, CSAR in Desert Storm appears to have been a mixed
bag. Because of advances in precision weaponry, Global Posi-
tioning System (GPS) technology, countermeasures, and train-
ing, relatively few coalition aircraft were shot down. Forty-three
coalition aircraft were lost in combat, most over high-threat
areas. Eighty-seven coalition airmen, soldiers, sailors, and ma-
rines were isolated in enemy or neutral territory. Of that total,
48 were killed, one is still listed as missing, 24 were immedi-
ately captured, and 14 were exposed in enemy territory. Of
those who survived, most landed in areas controlled by enemy
troops. Of the few actually rescueable, six were not rescued for
a variety of reasons, but primarily because of limitations in
CENTAF’s ability to locate them accurately and in a timely
manner. Additionally, a lack of unity of command over all CSAR
elements caused confusion and a strained working relation-

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 INTRODUCTION

ship between the joint rescue coordination center and SOC-

CENT, which operationally controlled the actual combat rescue
assets. Regardless, the men who actually carried out the res-
cue missions displayed a bravery and élan so common to Ameri-
can rescue forces in earlier wars.
In this research effort I have many people to thank: Mr. Joe
Caver and Mr. Archie Defante at the Air Force Historical Re-
search Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama; Dr. Wayne Thompson
at Air Force History; the officers and enlisted troops at the Air
Force Rescue Coordination Center at Langley AFB, Virginia; Dr.
James Partin in the Special Operations Command History Of-
fice at MacDill AFB, Florida; Mr. Herb Mason at the Air Force
Special Operations Command History Office at Hurlburt AFB,
Florida; and the librarians at the Joint Personnel Recovery
Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
I also thank Col Gary Weikel, USAF, retired, Col Mark Brac-
ich, and Lt Col John Blumentritt for patiently reviewing my
manuscript and offering priceless constructive comments.
Finally, to all the veterans of this conflict, thank you for your
time. Thank you for sharing your experiences with me. I have
tried to relate your words as honestly and accurately as possi-
ble. For those of you who requested confidentiality, I have hon-
ored your desires. To those of you who refused to speak of the
war, I respect that, too. War touches each man differently. Some
men love it; some men hate it. All are changed irrevocably by
the experience.

DARREL D. WHITCOMB
Colonel, USAFR, Retired

Notes
1. Tom Clancy with Gen Chuck Horner, Every Man a Tiger (New York: G.
P. Putnam’s Sons, 1999), 391.
2. See Appendix 6 to Annex C to USCINCCENT OPLAN 1002-90, 18 July
1990.
3. Richard P. Hallion, Storm over Iraq (Washington, DC: Smithsonian In-
stitution Press, 1992), 246.
4. Clancy with Horner, Every Man a Tiger, 391.

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 Chapter 1

A Rich Heritage:
The Saga of Bengal 505 Alpha

We’ve got the best mission in Southeast Asia. I don’t think

that there’s any larger pleasure than helping some guy out
like that.
—Capt Dale Stovall

It was the 13th of April 1972. For three days the rescue forces
from the 56th Special Operations Wing at Nakhon Phanom Air
Base (NKP), Thailand, had been working to rescue an American
who had been shot down near Tchepone, Laos, a central trans-
shipment point on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The two-man crew of
an A-6 from Marine All-Weather Attack Squadron 224 stationed
aboard the USS Coral Sea in the Gulf of Tonkin had ejected
when their aircraft was hit by antiaircraft fire as it attacked a
convoy of trucks. The pilot, Maj Clyde Smith (Bengal 505 Al-
pha), made contact with US aircraft overhead. His bombardier/
navigator, 1st Lt Scott Ketchie (Bengal 505 Bravo), did not, and
his fate has never been determined. Smith was alone, trapped
along one of the most dangerous stretches of the road complex.
To the planners and rescue crews at NKP, it was a dangerous
tactical problem.1
But this was what US Air Force rescue crews did. Their
units—equipped with a variety of helicopters and other support
aircraft—had, by this late point in the war, made thousands of
rescues. The process was almost routine, although each rescue
provided unique challenges. Regardless, the men of rescue
would fight to get him out. The nearest unit to Major Smith was
the 40th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron, also located at
NKP. It was equipped with new HH-53 helicopters, which were
specifically designed for combat recovery. Its crews were very
familiar with the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Like the Air Force, the US Navy also had rescue forces in
Southeast Asia. Their primary rescue unit was Helicopter Squad-
ron 7 (HC-7). With detachments aboard ships throughout the

chap1.indd 1 11/6/06 3:37:49 PM

 A RICH HERITAGE

Tonkin Gulf, its SH-3 helicopters and aircrews stood ready to

recover downed crews, both at sea and on land.2 They especially
liked to pick up Navy and Marine aviators, but the location of
Smith dictated that the 40th at NKP would get this mission.
For two days, the rescue planners and crews worked to get
Smith out. Forward air controllers flying OV-10s and F-4s
swept the area, first to locate the survivor and then to attack
enemy guns massed nearby. Intelligence sources indicated that
the enemy also had SA-2 surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries
in the area. A supreme threat to any rescue attempt, these were
attacked by F-105s firing homing missiles and by several flights
of aircraft with high-explosive bombs. To support the effort di-
rectly, the commanding officer of the Coral Sea, CAPT Bill Harris,
launched 78 sorties to hit enemy forces.3 The battle was unend-
ing as the Americans relentlessly attacked the North Vietnamese
who, in turn, attempted to shoot down more of the orbiting air-
craft. They knew that the Americans would try to rescue their
man. They knew the Americans would send helicopters. They
carefully husbanded their ammunition for the coming battle.
At the same time, North Vietnamese ground units began
sweeping through the jungle looking for Smith. To impede their
efforts, Air Force aircraft dropped “crowd control” weapons in
the area. The powder that they spread made anyone who came
in contact with it violently ill for about 30 minutes. This slowed
the movement of the enemy troops and created a temporary
barrier around the survivor.
Enemy defenses had to be subdued before a recovery heli-
copter could enter the area. Relentlessly, the forward air con-
trollers directed flight after flight of Air Force, Navy, and Marine
fighters as they pummeled the guns and SAM sites below. Sev-
eral times the rescue commanders—flying in old Douglas A-1
Skyraiders and using the call sign Sandy—had considered and
rejected sending in the vulnerable helicopters. The helicopter
crews were ready to go, but they needed to have a reasonable
chance of success.
Finally, on the afternoon of the 13th, the situation seemed to
be propitious for a pickup attempt. As more forward air con-
trollers and fighters struck the enemy positions around Smith,
a large task force rendezvoused in the sky several miles west of
his location. Leading the task force was an HC-130 aircraft

chap1.indd 2 11/6/06 3:37:49 PM

 A RICH HERITAGE

Photo courtesy of Dale Stovall

Brig Gen Dale Stovall learned the basics of combat search and rescue as a young
captain flying helicopters in Southeast Asia, where he earned the Air Force Cross
for one heroic rescue.

with the call sign King 27. Its crew would provide overall com-
mand and control and critical in-flight refueling to the rescue
helicopters, if necessary, as routinely occurred on longer-range
missions. The lumbering and vulnerable HC-130 would orbit
well away from the recovery area.
The actual pickup would be made by Jolly Green 32, an HH-
53 piloted by Capt Ben Orrell. The young captain was a colorful
character. He grew up “out west” and had desired early on to be
a bull rider. Discovering airplanes, he instead turned his quiet

chap1.indd 3 11/6/06 3:37:49 PM

 A RICH HERITAGE

strength, courage, and resolve to rescue operations. Described

by one contemporary as, “unpretentious, rock solid, steady,
cool, and fearless,” he had developed a keen sense of propor-
tion, which seemed to give him the ability to quickly size up any
situation.4 He and his crew would fly as the “low bird,” or the
lead aircraft and would go in for Smith.
Backing them up would be another HH-53, Jolly Green 62,
flown by Capt Dale Stovall. Dale was another star in the rescue
community. A tall, lanky redhead, he was absolutely fearless
and perpetually fought to fly missions. On his off time, he con-
stantly read, researched, and probed for new ideas. To others,
he appeared almost hyper and perhaps a bit of a bore. He was
constantly out talking to the maintenance troops about equip-
ment modifications or meeting with tactics officers from all
manner of units to refine or improve operations. He lived res-
cue and thrived under the pressure. He and his crew would fly
the “high bird” as backup for Orrell. Stovall was not happy. He
wanted the lead position. But his time in Southeast Asia taught
him that the situation below could rapidly change and push
him to the fore. He knew his time was coming; if not today, then
at some point in the future. The fighter pilots always needed
the Jolly Greens.5
The two helicopters would be escorted by eight A-1s, led by
Maj Jim Harding. Strong of body and quick of mind, Jim was the
hard-charging commander of the 1st Special Operations Squad-
ron (SOS), also located at NKP. His call sign was Sandy 01. In the
coming battle, he would be the on-scene commander (OSC). He
would have to make the difficult and dangerous decision to com-
mit Orrell and his crew or, if necessary, Stovall and his. It weighed
heavily on his mind.6 Above them would be another armada of
forward air controllers, fighters, SAM-suppression flights, and
other supporting aircraft. It was an awesome flock of aircraft,
there for one purpose: to get that American out of that mess.
The gaggle of helicopters and A-1s flew to a holding point
west of Smith’s position. From there the A-1s proceeded into
the battle area while the helicopters held at high altitude. After
trolling the area repeatedly, Major Harding felt that the enemy
was quiescent and decided to call for Captain Orrell and Jolly
Green 32. He directed two of his A-1s—Sandy 02 and Sandy

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 A RICH HERITAGE

03—to acquire the helicopter and escort him in. Jolly Green 62
with Stovall stayed at the holding point as the backup.
Dutifully, the two A-1s headed off and joined with Jolly Green
32. Captain Orrell turned his aircraft and followed. As the he-
licopter and A-1s descended, an F-105 overhead detected a
SAM site attempting to track the formation. The F-105 crew
turned and fired an antiradiation missile at it. The deadly
weapon exploded over the radar dish, completely destroying
the fragile equipment and the men operating it. Jolly Green 32
and its escorts then spiraled down through an opening in the
clouds. Once below, they were fully exposed to the enemy gun-
ners waiting for them.
As they began to cross segments of the Ho Chi Minh Trail,
several batteries of 23 millimeter (mm) and 37 mm guns began
firing at them. As the tracers whizzed by, Orrell took evasive
action. Spotting the enemy below, the gunners and parares-
cuemen, or “PJs,” on board the helicopter began firing their
miniguns. Sandy 02 kept firing white-smoke rockets ahead of
the formation. As they exploded, their white plumes showed
the pilots in Jolly Green 32 exactly where to fly. Sandy 03
darted back and forth around the helicopter, attacking enemy
guns. Larger-caliber explosive shells flew back and forth as the
three aircraft flew deeper into enemy-controlled territory.
Crossing a ridgeline, the helicopter was hit by 12.7 mm fire.
One of the PJs, Sgt Bill Brinson, was slightly wounded but kept
firing his minigun at the increasing number of enemy targets
now all around them. Orrell pressed on to the waiting survivor.7
Visibility beneath the clouds was clear except for the billow-
ing smoke from burning enemy wreckage and the air strikes
directed by Harding. With the helicopter now approaching, he
called for Smith to ignite a flare that would quickly produce a
large cloud of red smoke. The smoke was easily identifiable and
should reveal his exact location for Orrell. The helicopter pilot
could then maneuver his aircraft directly over the survivor to
make a pickup. Unfortunately, the smoke also revealed the
survivor’s location to any enemy troops in the area. This was
one of the hazards of rescue work, but it had to be done.
Smith did as Harding instructed and lit his flare, but the
smoke drifted into nearby trees and the helicopter crew did not
see it. As Orrell settled his helicopter just above the trees and

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 A RICH HERITAGE

Photo courtesy of Dale Stovall

Capt Bennie Orrell received the Air Force Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor
in prestige, for the daring rescue of Bengal 505A, Maj Clyde Smith, USMC.

began to search, enemy troops sprang forth from every quarter

and began firing at the vulnerable helicopter with weapons of
various types. On board, crewmen in the back fired their mini-
guns in response. Above, Major Harding noted the enemy ac-
tion and directed some of his A-1s to fire guns and rockets in
close to the helicopter. He also called for other fighters to drop
bombs and napalm on enemy forces a little farther away.
Hovering just above the foliage, the helicopter crew searched
in vain for the survivor. Orrell was concerned because he knew
that he now had the attention of every enemy gunner in that
valley. He kept calling on the radio for Smith to give him direc-
tions. Harding directed Smith to ignite the other end of his
flare. Orrell again reported that they could not see the survivor,
so Smith decided to take action on his own and began running
to an open area. Reaching the clearing, he saw the helicopter

chap1.indd 6 11/6/06 3:37:50 PM

 A RICH HERITAGE

about 60 yards away and heading away from him. Smith

screamed on his survival radio for the helicopter to turn around.
Orrell reversed course and, almost immediately, his flight engi-
neer spotted Smith. Orrell ordered his engineer to lower the jun-
gle penetrator. When Smith saw the rescue device, he ran for his
life as the totally exposed helicopter gently moved toward him.
Above, Harding and the other A-1 pilots knew that this was
the critical moment. They formed an aerial “wheel” around the
helicopter and laid down a withering field of fire on any enemy
who dared contest the rescue.
Reaching the penetrator, Smith remembered the warning
that survivors should let it touch the ground to discharge any
static electricity before grabbing it. Static electricity was not
high on his list of concerns at that moment. When the penetra-
tor was still five feet above the ground, he tackled it. There was
no shock. The device had a “horse-collar” and fold-down legs
on which he could sit and secure himself. But he did not pull
down the legs or wrap himself with the collar. Smith was still
wearing his ejection harness, which had a metal clip that could
be used to physically lock him to the hoist. He quickly snapped
it to the connection ring and gave a “thumbs up” signal.
When the flight engineer, A1C Bill Liles, saw that Smith was
attached, he began reeling the penetrator back on board. Orrell
held his hover, and the A-1s continued to swarm above. As
Smith reached the door, Liles pulled him in and then shouted
for him to “get [expletive deleted] out of the way” as he swung
his minigun back into place and resumed firing at the enemy
below. He also told Orrell that the survivor was on board and
cleared him to resume forward flight.8
Orrell relayed to Major Harding that Smith was on board.
Harding directed him to “stay low” and egress the same way
that he had come in. Orrell turned to the escape heading as the
A-1s fell into a loose escort pattern for the flight out. Accelerat-
ing and climbing, the gaggle of aircraft took fire from several
more enemy gun sites before clearing the area. The A-1s de-
stroyed the sites with their remaining rockets and bombs.
The rest of the 90-minute flight back to NKP was uneventful.
A huge reception awaited their return. As he climbed out of the
helicopter, Smith was overwhelmed by the pride and profes-

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 A RICH HERITAGE

sionalism exhibited by the rescue crews and truly humbled by

the gratitude he felt for their selfless actions.9
After taking care of his injured crewmember, Captain Orrell
inspected his helicopter. He found bullet holes throughout the
aircraft. Several were in the cockpit area. Two rounds had gone
through the main rotor blades, and one of the external fuel
drop tanks was peppered with shrapnel from a larger-caliber
gun. They were stark reminders of the vicious battle. But that
was what he was paid to do.
Dale Stovall congratulated Orrell for an outstanding job. They
debriefed the mission and began preparing for whatever was next.
Soon, both were back on the flying schedule. The war went on.
For his actions that day, Capt Bennie Orrell was awarded the
Air Force Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor in prestige.
Dale Stovall’s moment came six weeks later when he was
called to fly “low bird” for the recovery of Air Force Capt Roger
Locher. Locher had been shot down over North Vietnam, near
Hanoi. After evading for 23 days, he made contact with US air-
craft. They alerted the rescue forces, and another armada was
launched. It encountered combat equally as intense as the Smith
recovery, but fighting through the enemy defenses, Stovall was
able to recover Locher. It was an epic mission, for which Stovall
was also awarded the Air Force Cross.10
Bennie Orrell and Dale Stovall were deeply affected by these
missions. Their harrowing experiences solidified in both men a
keen realization of what helicopters could and could not do
when confronted by well-armed and alerted enemy forces. They
would not forget these hard-learned lessons.
The medals awarded to Orrell and Stovall were not that un-
common among rescue forces. In fact the men of rescue were
the most highly decorated group of airmen in that war. The
reason was simple. As documented by historian Dr. Earl Til-
ford, the Air Force was responsible for the rescue of 3,883 per-
sonnel from all varieties of “at risk” situations during that long
conflict.11 In addition to combat rescues, this included troops
who were medically evacuated or rescued from entrapped posi-
tions like the Citadel at Quang Tri in 1972.
This data is incomplete, for it does not include the thousands
of US Army and Marine aircrews who were shot down and
quickly recovered by sister ships and crews. Nor does it include

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 A RICH HERITAGE

the number of Navy or Air Force crews who were picked up by

helicopters from other services. The stories are anecdotal, such
as that told by former Air Force chief of staff, Gen Ronald Fo-
gleman, retired, who as a young captain ejected from a flaming
F-100 on 12 September 1968 and was immediately picked up
by an Army AH-1 Cobra helicopter.12
In 1979 BioTechnology Inc. of Falls Church, Virginia, did a more
focused study for the Naval Air Systems Command on combat
losses. Specifically looking at what is now considered CSAR, the
study indicated that the rescue forces of the Air Force and Navy
rescued 778 downed aircrewmen throughout Southeast Asia.13
Included in the BioTechnology study was a note that in prose-
cuting those rescues, 109 aircraft of all types were shot down,
and 76 rescue personnel were killed or captured. That meant that
for every seven men saved, one rescue or support aircraft was
lost, and for every 10 men saved, one rescue troop was lost.14
That study also included more startling numbers, which
looked specifically at rescues within the high-threat areas of
North Vietnam, where 125 aircrewmen were rescued. In the
process, 41 rescue or support aircraft were lost for a rate of
three saves per aircraft lost. More importantly, 34 personnel
were lost for a rate of 3.7 saves per person lost.15
Those are sobering numbers. If the war in Southeast Asia taught
one thing about rescue, it was that the helicopters—regardless of
the amount of covering fire—were extremely vulnerable to enemy
guns, missiles, and aircraft. Recognizing this, the men of rescue
sought a better and safer way to conduct their mission.
Anecdotal evidence from several recoveries suggested that res-
cue operations under the cover of darkness could significantly re-
duce the danger of enemy defenses. Noting this, Air Force design
engineers went to work to develop a night-recovery capability.
As in any engineering project, there were fits and starts, but
by late 1972, the new system was ready for field-testing. Desig-
nated the Limited Night Rescue System, it combined a Doppler
navigation system and both an approach and hover coupler.
The prototype kits were shipped to NKP, Thailand, and installed
on two 40th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron HH-53 Jolly
Greens. The aircraft were also modified with a low-light-level
television system.

chap1.indd 9 11/6/06 3:37:50 PM

 A RICH HERITAGE

Source: Darrel Whitcomb

The Jolly Greens were legendary in Southeast Asia, creating high expectations
for combat search and rescue in Operation Desert Storm.

The crews immediately began training with the new technol-

ogy. The test came on a dark night in late December when an
AC-130 gunship, Spectre 17, was downed, again along the Ho
Chi Minh Trail southeast of a deadly place called Saravane. Only
two of the crew of 16 got out, and they were down along a heavily
defended section of the road. It was a replay of Bengal 505.16
Jolly Green 32, an HH-53 modified with the Limited Night
Rescue System, took off from NKP. The aircraft commander
was Capt Jerry Shipman. Using the new technology, Shipman
was able to fly straight to the first survivor and hover the big
helicopter directly over him. Shipman sent one of his PJs down
on the hoist. He easily found the man and brought him up. The
system worked perfectly. Shipman then flew to the second sur-
vivor. He was in dense brush and took longer to recover. With
both men on board, the crew of Jolly Green 32 hovered briefly
to insure that no other crewmen were alive. Satisfied that they
had the only survivors, they returned to NKP. Shipman was im-
pressed. Even though they had been right along the dangerous
road, they had encountered only minor ground fire.17
The tactical advantages of operating at night were obvious to
all involved. Captain Shipman commented on the new system.

10

chap1.indd 10 11/6/06 3:37:50 PM

 A RICH HERITAGE

“The ability to go in there blacked out at night gives you a defi-

nite advantage,” he understated.18
These rescue stories, as compelling as they are, were far too
routine in our nation’s costly war in Southeast Asia from 1964 to
1975. But they were part of combat, and every aircrew member
who flew in the war held the hope that if he went down, the Jolly
Green was coming. As one fighter pilot mused, “These Jolly Green
boys are a breed all by their lonesome. As happy as we were to
get picked up, the Jolly Greens were even happier to have done
it.”19 Those feelings became part of the folklore of that conflict.
As the war ended, the conviction that whenever our aerial
forces were dispatched to combat, the rescue forces would be
there was imprinted on the minds of the combat aviators. For
many, the extensive aerial bombing of Hanoi during Christmas
of 1972 was actually seen as a huge rescue mission designed
to free our POWs.20
But even that was not the end. In the spring of 1975, a joint
US Air Force, Navy, and Marine task force was quickly assem-
bled from the remnants of our forces still in the theater to res-
cue the crew of a hijacked freighter, the SS Mayaguez. The ship
had been seized by Khmer troops off the southern coast of
Cambodia, and intelligence believed that its crew was being held
near the island of Koh Tang. Several large HH-53 and CH-53
helicopters were shot down by the massed guns and rockets of
the enemy troops in a short and intense engagement. Coming
almost as a footnote to the Vietnam War, this operation was
little remembered except by the helicopter crews who knew that
rescues in daylight visual conditions into areas controlled by
massed enemy troops were no longer feasible.21
As one rescue troop later wrote, “[During] the last stages of
the war in Southeast Asia conflict the enemy acquired more
manpads [heat-seeking missiles] and better AAA. . . . The tragic
losses during ‘Mayaguez’ seemed to mark the end of helicopters
on a modern battlefield.”22
The numbers of those rescued and those lost in rescue mis-
sions were sobering and pointed to a need to find a better way
to do it. The Limited Night Rescue System looked promising. As
our nation withdrew from and then moved beyond that war, the
statistics and lessons hard learned got little notice. What en-
dured instead were the memories of the heroism of the rescue

11

chap1.indd 11 11/6/06 3:37:50 PM

 A RICH HERITAGE

crews. One A-1 pilot captured the essence of those memories

when he wrote after one particularly brutal rescue effort, “The
mission of the Sandy/Jolly team is to extract downed airmen
from the clutches of the enemy. We have been reasonably suc-
cessful in the past. Our proven capability to accomplish this
mission has made a significant contribution to the high morale
of the combat pilots in Southeast Asia.”23
As the years passed—at places like Nellis Air Force Base,
Nevada; Ramstein Air Base, Germany; Osan Air Base, South
Korea; and hundreds of other bases and airfields—the veteran
combat pilots of Southeast Asia passed those stories to a new
generation of young tigers.
The helicopter pilots counted the patches on their aircraft
and remembered the battles at places like Tchepone, Saravane,
and Koh Tang.24

Notes
1. Lt Col Clyde Smith, USMC, retired, “That Others May Live,” Proceed-
ings, April 1996, 82–88.
2. CAPT Michael T. Fuqua, USN, “We Can Fix Combat SAR in the Navy,”
Proceedings, September 1997, 57.
3. Smith, “That Others May Live,” 86.
4. Col Gary Weikel, USAF retired, e-mail to author, 20 May 2003.
5. Ibid.
6. Smith, “That Others May Live,” 87.
7. Narrative of Capt Bennie Orrell, “Rescue of Bengal 505A,” SEA Rescue
and Recovery Files, file number 1118832, US Air Force Historical Research
Agency (USAFHRA), Maxwell AFB, AL. The crew of Jolly Green 32 consisted of
Capt Ben Orrell, aircraft commander; 2d Lt Jim Casey, copilot; A1C William
Liles, flight engineer; A1C Ken Cakebread, PJ; and Sgt William Brinson, PJ.
8. Smith, “That Others May Live,” 88.
9. Ibid.
10. Air Force Cross data supplied by Mr. Terry Aitken, USAF Museum,
Wright-Patterson AFB, OH.
11. Earl H. Tilford Jr., Search and Rescue in Southeast Asia, 1961–1975
(Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History, 1980), 155.
12. Chris Hobson, Vietnam Air Losses (Hinkley, UK: Midland Publishing,
2001), 162.
13. Martin G. Every, “Navy Combat Search and Rescue,” BioTechnology
Inc., Falls Church, VA, September 1979, 21.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.

12

chap1.indd 12 11/6/06 3:37:50 PM

 A RICH HERITAGE

16. Project Checo, Southeast Asia Report Search and Rescue Operations
in SEA, 1 April 1972–30 June 1973, K717.0414-1, 48.
17. Capt Jerry Shipman, interview by the author, undated; and Hobson,
Vietnam Air Losses, 244.
18. Shipman, interview.
19. Howard Sochurek, “Air Rescue Behind Enemy Lines,” National Geo-
graphic Magazine, September 1968, 364.
20. John Darrell Sherwood, Fast Movers: Jet Pilots and the Vietnam Expe-
rience (New York: Free Press, 1999), xix.
21. See John F. Guilmartin, A Short War, The Mayaguez and the Battle of
Koh Tang (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1995), and Ralph
Wetterhahn, The Last Battle, The Mayaguez Incident and the End of the Viet-
nam War (New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, 2000) for excellent descrip-
tions of this event. See also Col George Gray, interview by the author, 3 May
2001.
22. Lt Col Joe E. Tyner, AF Rescue and AFSOF: Overcoming Past Rivalries
for Combat Rescue Partnership Tomorrow, National Defense Fellows Program,
Headquarters United States Air Force and Air University, undated, 27.
23. Maj John Walcott, Sandy report, History of the 56th Special Opera-
tions Wing, January–March 1971, vol. 3, US AFHRA, Maxwell AFB, AL.
24. Shipman, interview.

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chap1.indd 12 11/27/06 10:43:01 AM

 Chapter 2

The Interim Years

They pulled all the HH-53s and crews down to Hurlburt over-
night. [Eventually] they were permanently transferred to
SOF.
—Brig Gen Dale Stovall

The war in Southeast Asia was a long and divisive one for the
nation. During the lengthy period of withdrawal, aerial forces
assigned primarily in Thailand covered the retreat of our sol-
diers and marines. The rescue units were among the last to
leave. Personnel from the 3d Air Rescue and Recovery Group
and the 40th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron departed Thai-
land in January of 1976 on some of the last aircraft.
Returning to the United States, they were assigned to units
flying the HH-53 and HH-3 that belonged to the Aerospace Res-
cue and Recovery Service (ARRS). It was part of the Military
Airlift Command (MAC) and controlled all active and reserve
component rescue units. Located at Scott AFB, Illinois, it also
ran the collocated Air Force Rescue Coordination Center
(AFRCC). This center was the clearinghouse for all continental
rescues. It was authorized to coordinate with the Departments
of Defense, Transportation, and Commerce; the National Aero-
nautics and Space Administration (NASA); and state and local
authorities to direct and run civil search and rescue (SAR).
There was a large market for their services. Traditionally, Air
Force rescue units stationed in the United States also sup-
ported civil SAR. Almost daily, the veterans of Southeast Asia
were called upon to rescue lost hikers and foundering boaters
or search for overdue aircraft. By 1981 the units of the ARRS
had recorded their 20,000th rescue. Additionally, several of its
members had received prestigious Cheney and McKay Trophy
awards for some incredible recoveries.1
Refocused now on routine peacetime duties, little innovative
thought was given to combat SAR, at least for the first few post-
war years, but the value of the Limited Night Rescue System

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

had been clearly recognized and had spawned some advocates.

One advocate was a veteran of the 40th Air Rescue and Recov-
ery Squadron. Finishing his tour at NKP in April 1973, Capt
Jerry Shipman was transferred back to Scott AFB. The assign-
ment was not happenstance. After the Spectre 17 rescue, his
unit had been visited by MAC commander, Gen P. K. Carlton.
The general was very proud of his rescue troops and took every
opportunity to visit them. He had also been briefed on the Limited
Night Rescue System and wanted to see it operate.
Captain Shipman was picked to take General Carlton on a
night demonstration ride. They flew a mission into northeast
Thailand and, using the Limited Night Rescue System, picked
up some PJs. The general was impressed. At the debriefing,
Shipman began to cover the strengths and weaknesses of the
system. The general stopped him and, with a wave of his hand,
acknowledged that the system did have some capability. Signal-
ing for Shipman to be seated, he took the floor and proceeded
to tell the assembled aircrews of other exciting technological
developments which appeared to have utility in rescue. These
were advancements in infrared night-vision capability and
newer forms of precision navigation. Saying perhaps more than
he should have, General Carlton shared exciting news of a new
concept being developed at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio: a com-
plete modification for the HH-53 called Pave Low.2
Pave Low was the successor to two earlier programs, Pave
Star and Pave Imp. Both programs had attempted to develop a
night and all-weather capable aircraft for worldwide SAR use,
but both had been cancelled because of severe cost overruns.
Pave Low was a new concept optimized from the mistakes of
these programs and the promises of newer technologies.
The conversations with Shipman and other aircrewmen at
NKP convinced General Carlton of the need. Returning to the
States, the general threw his full support behind the Pave Low
project and directed the ARRS to go forward with the proposed
extensive modification for the big HH-53 helicopters to give
them a full night and foul-weather rescue capability.
As conceived, it called for mounting a stabilized forward-
looking infrared (FLIR) system, a new Doppler navigation sys-
tem and computer, projected map display, terrain-following ra-
dar, and numerous improvements in self-protective capability.3

16

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

The Pave Low concept went through extensive conceptual

design and modification before it was brought to fruition as the
Pave Low III. The concept was shown to be feasible, and a pro-
totype was modified in 1976. That aircraft went through an
extensive operational test and evaluation that validated the
concept. To fund the initial batch of modifications, General
Carlton diverted funds from the C-5 fleet to modify the first 10
aircraft. The Air Force then dedicated funds to modify seven
more aircraft and place them in the rescue fleet by 1980. This
would give the ARRS a true day/night, all-weather rescue ca-
pability.4
As the development proceeded, the design engineers and offi-
cers in other tactical fields could not help but realize that the
Pave Low had capabilities well beyond just combat recovery. In-
deed, it possessed the ability to penetrate into high-threat areas
for all manner of special operations at acceptable levels of risk.5
Holding a series of positions at ARRS headquarters, Jerry
Shipman was intimately involved with the development of Pave
Low and put his enthusiastic support behind it. Constantly
seeking funding sources, he was a member of an ARRS briefing
team that traveled to several Tactical Air Command (TAC) bases
to sell the Pave Low concept for the modification of the CH-53s
that TAC possessed. Almost identical to the HH-53, these air-
craft had been used by Air Force special operations units in
Southeast Asia to insert commando teams behind enemy lines.
Some of them had participated in the Mayaguez mission.
Shipman and his teammates were convinced of the value of
the Pave Low and zealous in their approach, but the reception,
in most cases, was less than encouraging. They traveled to
Bergstrom AFB, Texas, where TAC kept a unit of CH-53s and a
numbered air force. Shipman and his team briefed the staff.
The senior commander was unimpressed and only wanted to
know when they were going to get those helicopters “the hell off
of my ramp.” They traveled to Langley AFB, Virginia, and briefed
the TAC staff. Support was not forthcoming.6
In the end, though, it made no difference. The decisive and
timely support of General Carlton ensured the success of the
program.
The disdain that Shipman found in TAC for anything that
had to do with helicopters reflected a larger distaste for special

17

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

operations in general. During the Southeast Asia conflict, the

Air Force special operations community had 550 aircraft of all
types and more than 10,000 personnel. Since the war, the com-
munity had shrunk to 3,000 personnel with 28 aircraft. Most of
these were assigned to the 1st Special Operations Wing (SOW)
at Hurlburt Field, Florida, or Air Force Reserve and Air National
Guard units. Smaller units were located in Okinawa and Japan.
Their fleet consisted of old CH-3, UH-1, MC-130, and AC-130
aircraft, which, except for some of the C-130 variants, were
more than 20 years old.7 Within TAC, the special operations
units were the lowest priority in funding.
Most amazingly, the heavy lift CH-53s that had done some
great work inserting and extracting commando teams behind
enemy lines in the war had been reassigned to a tactical com-
munications unit. The special operations forces’ MC-130s could
insert the teams, but unless adequate airfields were available,
they could not extract them. Helicopters were needed to guaran-
tee that capability in all terrains.8 The Pave Low was the an-
swer, but TAC was not interested. Shipman found this disdain
very frustrating.
Under MAC the ARRS commanded all Air Force rescue units
worldwide. Those in the United States remained focused pri-
marily on civil SAR, but some were also involved in significant
actions outside the country. In 1976 rescue units participated
in the emergency evacuation of Americans from Beirut, Leba-
non. In 1979 another rescue task force was deployed aboard
the USS Saipan for possible evacuation missions in Nicaragua
when that country was taken over by communist forces.
That same year, Jerry Shipman, now a lieutenant colonel,
was transferred to Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, where he took
command of the 1551st Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron,
the training squadron for the HH-53s, HH-3s, HC-130s, and
the initial cadre for the Pave Lows. It was an exciting time, and
Shipman loved his work. He felt that he held the future of res-
cue in his hands.
At about the same time, rescue elements were deployed to
Turkey for possible use in Iran as that nation was swept by
revolution. The men of the rescue task force were prepared to
launch into Iran and conduct recovery operations for any Ameri-
cans or other designated foreign nationals. Given the long dis-

18

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

tances involved and the turmoil sweeping Iran, these were as-
sessed to be very high risk missions and were not flown. The
rescue crews sat by helplessly as the bloody events took place
and Iranian students seized the American Embassy and took
54 Americans hostage.9
In an effort to gain the release of the hostages, Pres. Jimmy
Carter initiated several political and diplomatic initiatives. He
also directed his secretary of defense to propose a military option.
Given the lack of US forces or assets in the region, a conventional
effort of any size would have taken quite a while to organize and
deploy. Instead, the secretary decided upon a special operations
effort, which was given the title of Operation Eagle Claw.
Several of the 1st SOW MC-130s and AC-130s were assigned
to the mission. The helicopters of the 1st SOW were judged in-
adequate for the tasking because of the operational require-
ments. Instead, the planners decided to use RH-53 helicopters
assigned to the Navy, for two reasons:
1. The helicopters would launch from an aircraft carrier,
and the RH-53 was designed for that.
2. The RH-53s were also capable of carrying the heavy loads
needed for the mission and operating in desert sand.
Initially, Navy pilots were selected to fly the helicopters, but
they were replaced when several violated security rules and openly
discussed mission details with family members. Evaluators also
felt that the pilots lacked the tactical expertise for the mission.
They were replaced by USMC pilots who also flew the aircraft.10
The rescue crews in Turkey were not pleased at what they
were hearing. They were more than prepared to fly the mission
with their HH-53s, regardless of the risk, yet they did not get
the call. This would be an operation run by a select, hand-
picked group of individuals drawn almost exclusively from the
special operations community. It was completely compartmen-
talized, and they were not part of it.
The mission, initiated on 24 April 1980, was aborted when
several of the helicopters broke down at an interim refueling
site, Desert One. Then an RH-53 helicopter collided with an
MC-130 aircraft as the helicopter tried to take off. The resulting
explosion and fire were a horrible debacle.

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The rescue crews in place in Turkey felt cheated. One crew-

man observed, “The Air Force Rescue Service is trained and
practices and daily uses equipment that would have been far
superior to what was used there. Why they were not used is
hard to understand.”11
The rescue forces had been the recovery element of choice at
the Son Tay Prison in North Vietnam in 1970. That combined
special operations and rescue force mission had also been a
failure, but not because of the helicopters or aircrews. It had
failed only because of a lack of timely intelligence. (The Ameri-
can POWs had been moved to a different location.) Had the Ea-
gle Claw mission been delayed a few months, perhaps the highly
modified Pave Low HH-53Hs finally coming out of the modifica-
tion facility could have been dedicated to the operation.12
This failure showed a shocking lack of capability on the part
of the special operations forces. They had no long-range heli-
copter capability. The hodgepodge combination of Navy air-
craft with Marine pilots had failed. As one of the commanders
of the ill-fated mission stated afterward, “You cannot take a few
people from one unit, throw them in with some from another,
give them someone else’s equipment and hope to come up with
a top-notch fighting outfit.”13
Perhaps if TAC had kept its CH-53s in special operations
units instead of putting them in communications units, they
could have been the nucleus of such a force, especially if they
had made the decision to modify them to the Pave Low configu-
ration, but when Jerry Shipman and his team had tried to sell
the concept, TAC had refused to do so.14
As US troops were being pulled out, unit commanders deter-
mined that some had possibly been left behind in Iran. An
emergency order was sent to the 1551st Air Rescue and Recov-
ery Squadron at Kirtland AFB to load two Pave Lows and crews
on C-5s for immediate shipment to the Gulf so that they could
be used in recovery operations for the stranded troops. Ship-
man and his troops quickly put together a package of aircraft
and men and loaded them aboard the giant aircraft. The trans-
ports got as far as Dover AFB, Delaware, before the Eagle Claw
commanders completed a detailed accounting of all troops and
ascertained that their men were accounted for in full.15

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Following the failure of Eagle Claw, President Carter ordered

that a second operation be prepared. Code-named Honey Bad-
ger, this time the new Pave Low HH-53s would be included as
part of a vastly increased armada of Army helicopters and the
entire 1st SOW, but instead of including the rescue forces in
the mission preparation, a new Joint Special Operations Task
Force (JSOTF) under the command of the Joint Special Opera-
tions Command (JSOC) was formed.16
To support it, the chief of staff of the Air Force ordered the
transfer of the Pave Lows from the Air Rescue and Recovery
Service to the 20th Special Operations Squadron (SOS), a sub-
unit of the 1st SOW at Hurlburt Field. This unit, equipped with
HH-3s and UH-1Ns, had a long and distinguished record. Many
of its crewmembers were veterans of Southeast Asia and had
seen combat at places like Koh Tang and Tchepone. They were
among the first in any operational unit to fly with night-vision
goggles (NVG).
Lt Col Dale Stovall was amazed at how quickly the transfer
happened. “[D]uring the Desert One mission, they had all the
HH-53s down at Kirtland,” he explained. “When . . . they lost
the Marine birds, . . . they put JSOC together and started the
second attempt. They pulled all the HH-53s and crews down to
Hurlburt overnight. [Eventually] they were permanently trans-
ferred to special operations.”17
At Kirtland AFB, Jerry Shipman was shocked by the turn of
events. His aircraft and crews were taken from him with practi-
cally no explanation. Because of security concerns, he had not
been “read in” on the Honey Badger operation. He knew that
his troops were training hard for a special operation but did not
know the details. Intuitively though, he was able to read be-
tween the lines and had a pretty good idea what was going on.
His troops were involved in very high risk operations, and he
had no control over any aspect of the mission. It made him very
uncomfortable.
Shipman’s concerns were realistic. As the Honey Badger ar-
mada grew, it began intensive training. At times as many as 40
helicopters would fly in mass formations with the pilots using
NVGs. Accidents occurred, and an Army CH-47 and a Pave
Low were lost. Four fliers were killed, but the preparations
continued.18

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Unfortunately, Honey Badger was never executed. After the

failed Eagle Claw operation, the Iranian government divided
the American hostages into several small groups and moved
them constantly. Unsure of the hostages’ location and facing
unfavorable launch windows because of the short nights dur-
ing summer months, US leaders were not willing to launch the
second attempt until the fall. Eventually, diplomatic efforts led
to the release of all personnel. Politically, President Carter paid
a heavy price for the failed mission. He was defeated by Ronald
Reagan in the 1980 election. The hostages were released as
President Reagan took the oath of office.
The Pave Lows and crews stayed in the 20th SOS at Hurlburt.
This abrupt series of moves stripped the ARRS of its best, most
capable combat rescue asset. The ARRS still had a small fleet of
HH-53s. Some did have the old Limited Night Rescue System;
most were unmodified and their numbers were shrinking.19
To address this shortfall for the rescue community, the sec-
retary of the Air Force, later that year, approved plans to pur-
chase a fleet of modified HH-60D Nighthawk helicopters as the
primary combat recovery asset. These aircraft would have some
of the newer technology and arrive modified for night and all-
weather operations. They would replace the aging HH-3s and
HH-53s as they were taken for Pave Low modification. Except
for a handful of aircraft, they would not begin to roll off the
production lines until 1986.
In 1981, after a long hiatus, NASA resumed conducting
manned space flights. In its mission statement, the ARRS was
tasked to support NASA’s space flights. As NASA’s mission
tempo increased, it put a heavy drain on ARRS resources and
focused the command on noncombat operations. At the same
time several after-action reports from Operation Eagle Claw and
internal Air Force inspections suggested that, to increase em-
phasis on special operations forces, the Air Force should con-
solidate all of its helicopters under one organization. For unity
of command, this organization would absorb both the ARRS
and all Air Force special operations forces. The commander of
the ARRS concurred and suggested that this would provide for
force packages, which could then be placed at various loca-
tions around the world for both rescue and special operations
tasking. The proposal was not acted upon that year.

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The next year continued pressure from the National Com-

mand Authorities forced the Air Force to seriously consider the
proposal. A combined Air Staff team from the Inspector Gener-
al’s office and the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans
and Operations conducted a thorough inspection and review of
the Air Force’s special operations capability. Their report con-
firmed earlier findings and recommended that all special opera-
tions forces and rescue forces should be consolidated into a
single unit, preferably a numbered air force.20
Now assigned to the Air Staff, Lt Col Jerry Shipman did not
concur with the report and tried to fight it. He feared that if
rescue and special operations were merged, rescue would get
sucked into the ebb and flow of special operations and eventu-
ally be subsumed by them.
The rescue forces required specialized equipment to operate
effectively. Minor items such as modern survival radios for the
aircrews, “Madden” survival kits designed to be dropped to sur-
vivors, and location devices such as the downed airman loca-
tion system (DALS), all needed advocates. They had advocates
in the rescue community. Shipman feared that in a merger, that
advocacy would disappear.21 His concerns were lost in the bu-
reaucratic wrangling that swirled around the proposal. After a
full Air Staff review, the chief of staff concurred with the studies
and ordered the consolidation of the ARRS and the Air Force
special operations forces under a newly activated numbered air
force. After discussions between the commanders of TAC and
MAC, the chief of staff directed that the new numbered air force
would be assigned to MAC and would be the Twenty-third Air
Force. The MAC commanders were happy with the arrangement
because it gave them a way to protect their weather reconnais-
sance forces and rescue units in a numbered air force equal in
stature to its Twenty-first and Twenty-second Air Forces that
commanded the airlift units.22
Reporting to the Twenty-third Air Force would be the ARRS,
which would still command all of the rescue forces, and a newly
activated 2d Air Division located at Hurlburt Field, Florida, that
would command all special operations forces units. Each entity
would maintain its distinct identity.
This meant that Air Force special operations forces were be-
ing moved from TAC to MAC. To the airmen of special opera-

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tions, this did not go down well at all. They had always felt as
if they were the “lost children” of TAC, but at least there they
were in a command that was focused on combat. MAC was the
airlift command, and they were not happy.23 Regardless, the
transfer took place on 1 March 1983.
The first commander of the Twenty-third Air Force, Maj Gen
William Mall, was pleased with the arrangement. Even though
the two “communities” would maintain a separation, he felt
that a natural synergy existed between them. This synergy had
been exhibited many times, especially during combat opera-
tions like the Son Tay raid in Southeast Asia, the Mayaguez
rescue operation, and numerous operations along the Ho Chi
Minh Trail. In an interview with MAC’s Airlifter Magazine, he
stated:
We created 23rd Air Force primarily to enhance the special operations
forces (SOF) mission. The move capitalized on the synergism that exists
between the special operations forces and the combat rescue forces
because their mission, training, and equipment is similar. . . . The big
payoff has been between special operations forces and combat rescue.
Combat rescue has always augmented the special operations forces mis-
sion, but now we are training these forces in special operations tactics
to a greater extent than ever before. Additionally, some special opera-
tions forces equipment is compatible and can serve both roles. The spe-
cial operations forces Pave Low helicopters, for instance, have the capa-
bility to rescue a downed pilot in combat and still perform a special
operations function without extensive modification of equipment or
crew changes.24

As the consolidation took place, the Air Staff developed a

long-term plan to acquire new helicopters to replace the aging
fleet of HH-3s and disappearing HH-53s and upgrade existing
equipment. During 1982 the ARRS received nine production-
model UH-60A aircraft for rescue duty. Eventually upgraded to
the HH-60G model and called the Pave Hawk, they were as-
signed to the 55th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron and were
also considered special operations forces–capable. This was the
first of an extensive projected aircraft buy. Already, 60 HH-
60Ds were programmed with a total project purchase of 243
aircraft. The HH-60Ds came equipped with an inertial naviga-
tion system (INS), terrain-following-and-avoidance radar, and
FLIR, and reflected the advances in technology stimulated by
the Pave Low program.

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Money had also been programmed to modify 20 HC-130s to

give them in-flight refueling capabilities for the helicopters.
This designed buy was intended to satisfy the worldwide rescue
needs of the Air Force. As part of this process, aircraft were
designated for peacetime rescue and for wartime tasking. To
differentiate the two, peacetime rescue was now formally called
SAR, and wartime rescue was now called CSAR.25
Later that year, the Air Force Council on the Air Staff, upon
reviewing the program, decided to cut the buy to 69 HH-60Ds
and 86 HH-60Es. This was quite a reduction in capability. Not
only were 88 aircraft removed from the purchase; in reality, the
E-model aircraft was not nearly as capable as the D-model. The
HH-60E was basically the same as the UH-60A. Then, as a final
blow, Congress cut procurement funds for the program for an-
other year in the FY 84 Appropriations Bill.26
Keying off the actions of Congress, the Air Force Council, in
the spring of 1984, further scaled back the program from 155
total aircraft to 99 HH-60Ds. The Air Staff then reduced these
99 HH-60Ds to 90 HH-60As. Their reason was financial—the
HH-60D cost $22 million; the HH-60A cost $10 million, but it
was a much less capable aircraft. Even this was lost the next
year when the Air Force Council again reviewed the program
and decided to cancel the buy altogether.
Col Tony Burshnick was at the meeting when that decision
was made. Serving at that time as the chief of plans for MAC,
he attended the council meeting with several younger staff of-
ficers and recalled the discussion:
Our case was being presented by a rescue guy from the Air Staff. . . .
The Vice-Chief [of the Air Force] . . . listened to this pitch and he said,
“That [HH-60] is a great, great helicopter.” And then, of course, the price
tag came up. [The board members] yakked about it around the room
and they finally decided that they were going to kill it. It was too expen-
sive. I said, “Wait a minute. You’re killing rescue service.” And the guy
said, “If we put all that money into the H-60, there won’t be any money
to buy fighters so there won’t be any fighter pilots to rescue.” . . . So
there was no [HH-60].27

The commander of MAC, Gen Thomas Ryan, challenged this

decision, but his priority at that time was the new C-17 heavy
lift cargo aircraft, and his efforts on behalf of the ARRS were to
no avail. His staff began work on another rescue helicopter

25

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

master plan, but at this point, there was no money and little
support for new helicopters for rescue.
At the same time, the special operations forces were also fac-
ing some danger. In November 1984, the Army and Air Force
signed an agreement called the “Thirty-one Initiatives.” This
agreement was designed to resolve certain long-standing dis-
agreements between the services on a wide range of issues.
Initiative 17, as agreed to, called for the transfer of the special
operations heavy lift mission to the Army. One option consid-
ered was to transfer the Pave Lows to that service.
The Air Force and Army began to work through the agree-
ment. Another option called for the Army to perform the mis-
sion with heavily modified MH-47 helicopters. After three air-
craft accidents, the Army realized that whatever aircraft was
selected for this mission would have a huge operational and
logistical tail and, to be properly utilized, would have to have
direct access to a tanker fleet of HC-130s. They began to recon-
sider Initiative 17.28
The chiefs of the Air Force and Army held a meeting to review
the entire initiative. After a spirited discussion, they agreed to sus-
pend the initiative and leave the Pave Lows with the Air Force.
That decision was reaffirmed by Congress when it passed
legislation directing the Air Force to keep the long-range heli-
copter support mission instead of giving it to the Army for both
combat recovery and special operations missions. Additionally,
the Air Force was given a green light to modify the remaining
rescue HH-53s and the TAC CH-53s to the enhanced Pave Low
III configuration now called the MH-53J.29
Above the services, there was another wind blowing. Power-
ful members in Congress—upset with the recurring problems
in the military, as exhibited by the failure of Operation Eagle
Claw and subsequent operations in Grenada and Lebanon—
decided that the services needed to be fundamentally reorga-
nized. Perhaps the solution was to create a new special opera-
tions force or command as a new “sixth service.” One of the
leading proponents of this was Cong. Dan Daniel (D-VA), chair-
man of the powerful House Armed Services Committee (HASC).
In August 1985 he stated, “the current administration has been
pursuing the revitalization of our SOF capability. The Secretary
of Defense has assigned the highest priority to this effort. Con-

26

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

gressional support has been strong (and is growing); media at-

tention has been intense (and generally favorable); and the
public interest is intensifying.”30
The new commander of the Twenty-third Air Force, Maj Gen
Robert Patterson, also sensed the winds of change. He directed
his staff to do a study called “Forward Look.” Following Con-
gressman Daniel’s lead, that study recommended quickly grow-
ing the Air Force special operations forces from one wing-
equivalent to three. To do so without any aircraft procurement,
they would have to take aircraft from the rescue forces, further
weakening ARRS’s capability to perform combat recovery.
General Patterson briefed the plan to the new MAC com-
mander, Gen Duane Cassidy. He approved it, as did the Air Force
Council, in May 1986. The plan would direct the transfer of all of
ARRS’s HC-130 tankers and remaining HH-53s to the Air Force
special operations forces for the creation of overseas wings.
Subsequently, the 2d Air Division staff did an assessment of
combat rescue capability after the transfer of assets. Their find-
ing stated that “all the assets remaining in rescue units were
non-combat capable.” It continued on to say that special opera-
tions forces could “conduct combat rescue on a relative priority
basis. . . . [D]owned aircrews and other personnel requiring re-
covery must plan to survive and evade until air forces can come
and get them.”31 In fact, during this period when all of our war-
fighting planning was focused on the big European war, combat
rescue was almost not discussed. The reason was simple: the
threat was so overwhelming that planners did not feel that the
meager rescue forces would be able to survive penetrating the
projected heavy Soviet forces. Hence the aircrews were told that
if they were downed, they were to evade and move to certain
specific locations. At predesignated times, special operations
helicopters would fly by and pick up any crews there.32
And it seemed, at least from the tactical unit perspective,
that CSAR skills were allowed to atrophy. CSAR was not prac-
ticed at the “Red Flag” exercises that took place constantly at
Nellis AFB, Nevada, nor at Fort Irwin, California, where tactical
aircraft deployed on two-week stints to fly close air support
with Army units. There was no formal training for A-7 or A-10
pilots to develop skills as “Sandy” on-scene commanders to

27

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

tactically direct rescue operations, as so many A-1 pilots had

done in Southeast Asia.
At the same time, though, the men in the HH-3–equipped
rescue squadrons trained earnestly for combat recovery. They
took part in exercises when they could and suffered losses in
terrible accidents. The instructors at the HH-3 school at Kirt-
land AFB, New Mexico, pushed their students and demanded
near perfection. Regardless of what the “official” studies con-
cluded, they considered themselves ready for combat with what
they had and fully intended to do so. They were the men of res-
cue. If their services were needed, they expected to go.33 They
did not intend to be left out of the action as the rescue forces
had been in Iran.
Working with Congressman Daniel in Washington was an ag-
gressive staffer on the HASC, Ted Lunger. Ted was a former
Army Green Beret and “A” team leader and operations officer
with the CIA. He had served several tours in Vietnam and Leb-
anon and moved to the legislative branch of government in the
late ’70s for “family reasons.” There, he quickly developed a
solid reputation as someone who could get things done. Con-
gressman Daniel relied on him to oversee issues related to spe-
cial operations and rescue.
Working quietly behind the scenes, Lunger carefully studied
the history of special operations and rescue in Southeast Asia
and the Desert One and Grenada operations and concluded
that both mission areas suffered from benign neglect. He noted
that, “The parent services will not resource the mission if left to
themselves. They won’t fly the mission, they will not package it.
They won’t train for it. They won’t spend the money. The closest
equivalent you had in the AF in peacetime was the [ARRS]. I
traveled around and studied what the [ARRS] did in peacetime
and there wasn’t any training. . . . Now, were these guys doing
wonderful things with minimal resources? You bet . . . .”34
Based on his findings, Lunger crafted a proposal to create a
National Special Operations Agency (NSOA) similar in scope and
authority to the CIA. It would include components from all of
the services. In the proposal, the NSOA would be responsible for
maintaining a CSAR capability, although he labeled it theater
SAR, or TSAR, because it would belong to a theater commander

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

in chief. The Air Force component would consist of three wings.

Lunger explained:
In the NSOA legislation, theater SAR (TSAR) was a special operations
forces mission under the law. TSAR was the same as CSAR. What the
deal was—the CINC was supposed to get an augmented special opera-
tions forces package, a combined Wing, out in each of the unified com-
mands under the legislation. In each, there was a heavy rescue compo-
nent because we were dual tasking them for the insertion and exfiltration
for the special operations forces missions. The CINC was given the ca-
pability and assets and was given command of the assets under that
concept. . . . Under the NSOA, the theater CINC was to have his own
heavied [sic] up special operations forces wing. Inherent in that wing
was a squadron-plus of Paves. The follow on units would be MH-60s.35

The House of Representatives passed his proposal as part of

the 1987 Defense Authorization Bill.
This alarmed Senators Sam Nunn and Bill Cohen, who had
been instrumental in passing the Goldwater-Nichols Act in
1986. That landmark law had given commanders of unified and
specified commands operational control over all assigned com-
bat forces from any service. In reviewing the NSOA concept,
they felt that the agency would be too easily manipulated by
the various service chiefs. Instead, they wanted to create a
separate unified command for special operations with a com-
mander who had his own command and budget authority sepa-
rate from the service chiefs. In a series of meetings, they and
Congressman Daniel were able to craft legislation creating the
Special Operations Command (SOCOM) as an amendment to
Goldwater-Nichols.
Working behind the scenes, Ted Lunger pushed hard to make
the force as strong as possible. He wanted to include the prin-
ciples behind the NSOA concept in the SOCOM legislation, es-
pecially the TSAR forces. Working closely with Mr. Jim Locher,
the assistant secretary of defense for Special Operations/Low
Intensity Conflict, Lunger was able to incorporate most of his
proposals into the legislation.36
That summer Congress passed, and President Reagan signed,
the 1987 Defense Authorization Act, which included language
creating the US Special Operations Command. TSAR was listed
as the ninth of nine primary missions.
As a unified combatant command, SOCOM would have com-
ponents from each of the services. The Air Force portion would

29

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

Photo courtesy of Rich Comer

Brig Gen Rich Comer was a young lieutenant when he flew on the Mayaguez
rescue in 1975. He followed the rescue mission when it was moved to the
special operations forces between Vietnam and Desert Storm.

be the Twenty-third Air Force. It would be comprised of three

Special Operations Wings (SOW): the 1st at Hurlburt Field,
Florida, the 39th in Europe, and the 353d in the Pacific. To
align his command to the new reality, General Patterson moved
the Twenty-third Air Force to Hurlburt Field and deactivated
the 2d Air Division. Its special operations units immediately
began to work and train with the other elements of SOCOM.
The effect of all of this on the rescue community was dis-
heartening. Except for one unit in the Pacific, they had been
stripped of their most capable combat rescue helicopters and
tankers and had shrunk to one wing-equivalent in total force
structure. The assets taken away were being used to build up
the three special operations wings. What aircraft remained were
not considered combat-capable.37
More importantly, their owning command had completely
changed its character—they were orphans in a command with
a much different focus. And most importantly, their future, as
represented by the procurement program for new helicopters,

30

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

had been cancelled. Of course, the troops did not miss the
changes. They began to transfer over to special operations.
Administratively, the Twenty-third Air Force was still part of
MAC and still owned distinctly non-special operations forces ele-
ments like weather reconnaissance and aeromedical airlift units
along with the ARRS. The first commander of SOCOM, Gen
James Lindsey, was unhappy with that arrangement. He wanted
nothing to do with these units and asked the Air Force chief of
staff, Gen Larry Welch, to transfer them back to MAC and to re-
designate the Twenty-third as a major command, as it had been
when originally transferred to SOCOM. General Welch agreed.
The non-special forces units were transferred back to MAC, and
the Twenty-third Air Force was slated to become the Air Force
Special Operations Command (AFSOC) in May of 1990.38
At about the same time that the Twenty-third Air Force was
moving to Hurlburt, a stocky, slow-talking young major was
reporting to McClellan AFB, California, for duty as an HH-53
rescue pilot. Maj Rich Comer was an old hand at rescue. As a
young lieutenant, he had served in the 40th Air Rescue and
Recovery Squadron at NKP and was there in 1975 when they
flew in the Mayaguez effort. On that fateful day, he was copilot
on one of the HH-53s that went back in to rescue one of the
crews feared left behind. They searched along the beaches until
they were notified that all personnel had been accounted for.
Comer could still hear the sound of the enemy rounds ripping
through his lumbering helicopter.
Arriving in June from an assignment on the faculty at the Air
Force Academy, where he had shown great promise as an aca-
demician, he began his HH-53 checkout only to learn in Sep-
tember that the unit would be closing and all aircraft would be
sent to Pave Low conversion. Comer was offered a job flying the
Pave Low at Hurlburt in the 20th SOS. The squadron com-
mander, Lt Col Bo Johnson, personally offered him the job be-
cause he needed a few rising field-grade officers with some up-
ward potential. Comer took it and became a special operations
pilot. He had already done some work with them and was in-
trigued by the variety of missions they flew.39
Starting his Pave Low transition, Comer found the flying to
be very challenging, especially the night pattern work while
wearing the night-vision goggles. Some of his training sorties

31

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

were deeply frustrating, as he struggled to learn the “special

ops way” of doing things.
Comer saw immediately the difficulties of combining crews in
the squadron from two different backgrounds. There was defi-
nitely animosity between the rescue guys and the special op-
erations guys. He was struck by the arrogance of the special
operations pilots and could feel their disdain for the rescue
“pukes.” The special operators had high performance stan-
dards and did not feel that the rescue crews met them. Trans-
ferring in, the rescue guys had a choice: they could pick either
the “special ops way or the highway.”40 Several of the rescue
guys could not handle the flying and did ask to leave.
This process of blending the crews became Comer’s task. Bo
Johnson had specifically hired him for his maturity and orga-
nizational leadership skills, and Comer worked closely with all
the crews to form them into one cohesive group as the unit
rapidly expanded to 20 aircraft and 30 fully formed crews.41
AFSOC needed the transferees because it was growing rap-
idly in an ever more dangerous world. Many of the “old head”
rescue guys did make the transition, but just as many decided
that they had seen enough, had enough, whatever. They trans-
ferred back to what was left of rescue or retired. To many, it
was the end of an era.
Gary Weikel, then a lieutenant colonel and a former rescue
pilot, made the transition into Pave Lows with the 20th SOS.
He described what it meant to be assigned to the unit during
this difficult transition when he wrote, “It became . . . clear if
you came to fly Pave Lows in the 20th SOS, be prepared to fly
all night, scare yourself . . . on innumerable occasions, live on
the road in absolutely [expletive deleted] conditions, go on a
moment’s notice and be unable to contact your family for
weeks/months on end, and be satisfied that you were doing
something good for the country that no one else could do and
you were part of that ‘band of brothers’ that would fly through
the gates of hell for/with you.”42
With its creation SOCOM was almost immediately involved
in operational missions that involved direct action, unconven-
tional warfare, and antiterrorism actions. Its assigned forces,
including those from the Air Force, were quickly engaged in
Operation Earnest Will in the Persian Gulf from 1987 to 1989.

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This intense operation involved protecting oil tankers during

the Iran-Iraq War. In late 1989 they were thrust into Operation
Just Cause in Panama, which tasked them to the limit. With
real-world concerns and operations, little time or effort was
spent on TSAR.43
In fact, just the opposite was occurring. Senior planners at
SOCOM realized what a tremendous capability they had in the
Pave Low. It finally gave them the ability to clandestinely take
their troops deep into enemy territory. They spent vast sums of
money to give the aircraft all of the latest technological ad-
vances such as satellite-based communications and naviga-
tional devices. The idea of solely dedicating these aircraft to
rescue or of having them sit idle on rescue alert was anathema
to them. It just had too many other capabilities that needed to
be utilized on an almost daily basis.44
Then, in late 1988, the Air Staff directed that combat recov-
ery would not be included in the designed operational capabil-
ity (DOC) statement of special operations units. This formal
step severed any official connection between the special opera-
tions forces units and combat recovery.45
Buster C. Glosson, then an Air Force colonel serving in the
legislative liaison division of the Air Staff, watched this process
from the inside and was dismayed by the turn of events. He
said, “I was appalled at the situation with CSAR prior to [Desert
Shield/Storm]. . . . I thought that the Air Force leadership had
been shortsighted. . . . The decision made by the corporate Air
Force was to spend the absolute minimum on SAR or CSAR,
and we would leave that responsibility to somebody else.”46 In
the not-too-distant future, he would have to deal directly with
the results of those actions and decisions.
Several events occurred that convinced Air Force leaders that
they needed to revitalize the service’s combat recovery capabil-
ity. First, the commander of the Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) noted
that two rescue units assigned to his command were slated to
be converted to special operations units. Effectively, this would
leave him with no combat rescue capability in his immense
theater. To fix this he pushed for a rejuvenated and enhanced
rescue service.47
At almost the same time, the Air Staff published a Rescue
Force Structure Plan (RFSP). Almost two years in the making

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

and reflecting the monumental changes to the rescue forces

throughout the decade, this document laid out a comprehen-
sive program to rebuild an Air Force combat rescue capability.
Its stated goal was the recovery of 65 percent of all aircrews
downed in combat. Reflecting the new realities of command
and control dictated by the Goldwater-Nichols Act, the plan
directed that the Air Force would retain operational control of
its recovery helicopters through a rescue coordination center
(RCC) and discussed both preplanned and immediate response
missions in a variety of threat situations.
In a classified section, the plan addressed shortfalls and sug-
gested equipment necessary to achieve the goal of the plan and
a timetable to do so. Signed by the vice chief of staff of the Air
Force, the plan was given wide dissemination throughout the
rescue community.48
In response to these events the MAC commander, General
Cassidy, resolved to take action on two fronts. First, he wanted
to fully reclaim the ARRS. He had his staff develop a plan to
have it revitalized, rebuilt, and in place by 1995. He briefed it
to the senior Air Force leadership and was directed to have it
up and running by August 1989. Additionally, the leadership
agreed to remove the ARRS from the disbanding Twenty-third
Air Force, rename it the Air Rescue Service (ARS), and relocate
it to McClellan AFB, California. From there, it would, like the
ARRS, command and control all active duty air rescue units
and the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, still at Scott
AFB, Illinois. It would also serve as the gaining command for all
reserve component rescue units upon call-up.
The ARS was activated at McClellan on 8 August 1989 and
assigned directly to MAC. Upon activation, the rescue forces
and special operations forces were separate. Since the war in
Southeast Asia, the rescue community had come full circle. Un-
fortunately, in making the journey, it had lost its best combat
rescue aircraft. It would take time to correct the shortfall.49
To address the aircraft issue, General Cassidy revitalized the
old initiative to procure new helicopters. This effort began to pay
off when the Air Staff programmed money to buy 16 UH-60As,
which could then be modified for rescue duty and fielded as
HH-60Gs, which were technologically upgraded HH-60Ds.
These aircraft were to be delivered by 1989 as the first part of

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a steady buy of 10 aircraft a year for several years. They would

be used to equip active, Guard, and Reserve units.
With such strong support, the newly reconstituted ARS set
out to rebuild. It took control of HH-3–equipped rescue squad-
rons in Japan and Korea that had been slated to transfer to the
353d SOW, as well as squadrons in Alaska and Iceland, and
designated them as combat rescue units. In February 1990,
the ARS began to receive its first HH-60Gs. They were assigned
to the units in Korea and the Air National Guard. Additionally,
the ARS made plans to stand up a rescue squadron equipped
with HH-60Gs at Nellis AFB, Nevada. It would be the “first com-
bat mobility unit based in the continental United States” and
would activate on 1 January 1991.50
Upon activation, the ARS published its mission statement. It
stated, in part:
Air Rescue Service (ARS) is the focal point for USAF rescue. . . . The mis-
sions of ARS include combat rescue, peacetime SAR, humanitarian
SAR, support for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
and worldwide USAF Rescue Coordination Center activity. . . . The pri-
mary mission of ARS is combat rescue which traditionally involves the
helicopter recovery of downed aircrew members from a hostile environ-
ment, usually supported by HC-130 tankers and dedicated fighter air-
craft.51

At that point, the staple aircraft of the ARS units was still
the venerable HH-3. Since the remaining HH-53s had been
transferred for the Pave Low modification, the HH-3s and a few
UH-1Ns were the only helicopters available until the new HH-
60s arrived.
Maj Mark Tucker was in a unit as a combat-ready HH-53
pilot when the aircraft were taken away, and he had to convert
to the HH-3. He was appalled because the HH-3s were not ca-
pable of operating in a high-threat environment. He remem-
bered that “[the HH-3] did not have any defensive systems on
it. There was no radar to allow it to fly low level. There were no
threat defensive systems like we had on the ’53. It was all ‘plan
the mission and go fly.’ The first you would know of a threat
was when the rounds started impacting the aircraft or visual
identification of a missile launch. So crews trained to that, but
it was all based on ‘Hey, anybody ever seen this?’ ”52

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Some HH-3 units did have flare-dispenser units on their air-

craft, but it was not much when considering all the modern
threats that HH-3s would have to face in a high-threat conflict.
Considering this, the HH-3s could practically be used only in
low- or no-threat environments.53 Regardless, the men in the
units trained diligently and were ready if called.
There was one more issue that needed to be resolved with the
transfer of assets from the ARRS/Twenty-third Air Force to
ARS. Under the Twenty-third, all Air Force pararescuemen had
been assigned to the squadrons belonging to the 1720th Spe-
cial Tactics Group (STG). With the activation of the ARS, one
squadron, the 1730th Pararescue Squadron, would be split out
and transferred to McClellan AFB, where it would collocate
with the ARS. Detachments of PJs from the 1730th would then
be assigned to the various rescue units around the world. The
1720th STG would remain at Hurlburt as part of AFSOC.54

Navy
The US Navy also maintained rescue units, which carried a
long and rich heritage written, in part, by the men of HC-7 who
flew SH-3s off ships in the Tonkin Gulf. Its crews flew count-
less recovery missions for flyers down in the waters of the Gulf
or in North Vietnam.
After the war, the Navy deactivated that unit and transferred
the aircraft and mission to HC-9, a Naval Reserve unit. Many of
the HC-7 personnel also transferred over, and they kept the
corporate CSAR memory alive in the Navy.
Still flying the SH-3, HC-9 maintained a small but well-
motivated cadre until 1989 when it was split into two new re-
serve units, HCS-5, based at NAS Point Mugu, California, and
HCS-4, based at NAS Norfolk, Virginia. Both squadrons could
perform combat rescue and naval special warfare operations,
and each was assigned eight new HH-60H Seahawks. Every
aircraft was equipped with the latest in navigation gear, com-
munications, and armament, and was a huge improvement
over the older aircraft it replaced.55 Additionally, all helicopter
units that deployed with the fleet had the ability to assume re-
covery alert if needed on an ad hoc basis.

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Survival Radios
Since the Korean War, the US military had recognized the
value of equipping airmen with survival radios. These small,
handheld devices served two purposes:
1. They allowed the downed personnel to make voice contact
with covering and rescue forces to facilitate rescue.
2. They also had a “beacon” mode that sent a loud, piercing
wail that could be homed in on by rescue forces, provid-
ing another way to find survivors.
These radios were key to the recovery of hundreds of crew-
members from the jungles of Vietnam. In the later years of the
war, all crewmembers carried two URC-64 radios. These were
reliable four-channel radios. Most flyers carried extra batteries.
To home in on the signal quickly and accurately, the Air Force
had developed an Electronic Location Finder (ELF). This device
could pick up the survival radio signal and give the helicopter
crew accurate guidance to the survivor, but it did not have a
way of measuring the distance to the man. Hard experience in
Southeast Asia highlighted the need for this capability.56
After the war, as the URC-64s wore out, the Air Force and
Navy replaced them with the PRC-90. The new radio had simi-
lar capabilities, but broadcast on only two frequencies.57 Like
the URC-64, it could guide helicopters using the ELF.
The radios broadcast on well-known international frequen-
cies, and over time, the tactics and techniques of rescue be-
came common knowledge. Any potential adversary of the United
States could easily figure out how to exploit them—either
broadcast false signals or home in on the signals themselves.
By the time of Desert Storm, a new radio had been designed
for the aircrews, the PRC-112. This radio had the ability to
transmit on three common international frequencies and two
programmable frequencies. It also had a new feature built into
it—a discrete capability to precisely guide an aircraft to it if the
aircraft had been equipped with a homing device called the
Downed Airman Location System or DALS. This was a vast im-
provement over the ELF.
The Navy HH-60s had this homing capability, as did the AF-
SOC MH-53s. None of the residual Air Force helicopters had it.

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Approaching the conflict, the Navy had begun to replace its

PRC-90 radios with PRC-112s, as had the Special Operations
Command. The Air Force had not, although the Rescue Force
Structure Plan had clearly recognized the need to do this.58 The
radios cost about $3,000 each, and TAC had chosen not to
spend the money.59 It would send its crews into combat in any
near-term conflict with radios easily exploitable by the enemy.60
And each crewmember was issued only one radio.61
Understanding the importance of quickly locating downed
airmen, the Air Force had programmed the ability to listen for
and locate any emergency calls into several of its intelligence
assets. Each asset, however, had an error factor in it, an “error
probable” in military terms. This meant that a radio might be
located, but instead of a precise fix, the location report would
say “location is within an X-mile circle of Y latitude and Z lon-
gitude.” For example, one of the assets for locating survivors
was the Search and Rescue Satellites (SARSAT) system. This
constellation of satellites in polar orbit could quickly pick up
any emergency signals, but its “error probable” was 20 km or
about 12 miles.62
The rescue forces needed a more accurate position than this
to commit for a recovery, especially in a high-threat area. In South-
east Asia, traditionally, either forward air controllers or fighters
would quickly pinpoint a downed aircraft’s location. If this were
not possible, a flight of A-1 Skyraiders would roar into the area
and use homing techniques to locate the survivor before com-
mitting a vulnerable helicopter for the pickup. This was dan-
gerous business. During that war, 191 Air Force A-1s were lost
to enemy guns and missiles, most on rescue missions. Nine
HH-53s met the same fate.63 To operate in high-threat areas,
fighter-type aircraft would be needed to perform this function,
but neither the Air Force nor the Navy modified any fixed-wing
aircraft with the DALS.
The Air Force planned to use other assets instead to locate
its survivors. The airborne warning and control system (AWACS)
aircraft with their excellent radar and intelligence capabilities
and the “Rivet Joint” RC-135 electronic collection aircraft ap-
peared to have the ability to locate downed survivors. The RC-
135s and AWACS aircraft had been equipped with global posi-
tioning systems (GPS) for accurate navigation. These devices

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

received position data from a constellation of satellites 11,000

miles above the earth. The accuracy of the system allowed the
aircraft to precisely determine its position within 10 meters.
Using the latest map reference datum, called Worldwide Geo-
referencing System 1984 (WGS-84), they expected to be able to
accurately plot any form of radio transmitter. Since the AWACS
and Rivet Joint aircraft would be present in any theater of op-
erations, they could provide the location capabilities for downed
airmen. This system, however, had not been tested in the rigors
of combat.64
The development of the GPS was an exciting advancement.
Through the ages warriors had wrestled with the problem of
accurately determining position and movement. The highly ac-
curate GPS seemed to offer a solution. All US military services
were rapidly moving to incorporate the system in their forces.
Already, 12 satellites were in orbit and operating. When fully
operational the system would consist of 24 satellites that would
provide 24-hour navigational coverage around the globe. Be-
sides the RC-135s and AWACS, receiver kits had already been
installed on the AFSOC MH-53s and Block 40 F-16C/Ds. The
Army and Marines had begun buying them in huge quantities
for their ground units. The next launch of a GPS satellite was
scheduled for 2 August 1990.
So the elements that would have a bearing on CSAR in Des-
ert Storm were in place. The Air Force, through a series of re-
organizations had finally created the ARS, which had the CSAR
mission, but it did not have the force structure to accomplish
the combat recovery portion of the mission. Its primary recov-
ery aircraft were antiquated and in the process of being re-
placed. The new aircraft were arriving slowly and were being
parceled out to several units. The newly formed AFSOC had the
force structure and a large part of the corporate combat recov-
ery memory, but its units no longer had combat recovery in
their DOC statements. The Navy had formed units tasked for
combat rescue, but they were in the reserve component and
needed presidential authority to be activated.
The Air Force—the service most likely to need CSAR—was
relying on an untested concept to reliably and accurately locate
its downed airmen, especially in high-threat areas where they
were most likely to be shot down. And, for the most part, the

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Air Force and Navy were equipping their aircrews with a single
survival radio that was inferior to those used in the last days of
the war in Southeast Asia.
In the summer of 1990, CSAR in toto was not in the best of
shape. Regardless, it would soon be time to go to war.

Notes
1. Lt Col Joe E. Tyner, “AF Rescue and AFSOF: Overcoming Past Rivalries
for Combat Rescue Partnership Tomorrow,” National Defense Fellows Pro-
gram Study (Maxwell AFB, AL: Headquarters US Air Force and Air University,
undated), 8.
2. Capt Jerry Shipman, interview by the author, 13 June 2002.
3. Letter to author from Col Gary Weikel, USAF, retired, subject: Unofficial
White Paper on the US Air Force Pave Low, 2000.
4. Shipman, interview.
5. Weikel, letter.
6. Shipman, interview.
7. Tyner, study, 12.
8. Col James H. Kyle, USAF, retired, The Guts to Try (New York: Orion
Books, 1990), 24–27. Amplifying comments by Col Tom Samples, 24 July
2003.
9. Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service 1946–1981: An Illustrated Chro-
nology, pamphlet, undated. Amplifying comments by Col Tom Samples, 24
July 2003.
10. Tyner, study, 13; and comments to the author by Col Tom Beres,
USAF retired, 15 October 2003.
11. Tyner, study, 14.
12. Kyle, Guts to Try, 224.
13. Ibid., 360.
14. Shipman, interview.
15. Shipman, interview; and Kyle, Guts to Try, 254.
16. Tom Clancy with Gen Carl Stiner, Shadow Warriors (New York: G. P.
Putnam’s Sons, 2002), 9.
17. Stovall, interview by the author, 3 September 2001.
18. Sid Balman, “Second: US Force Planned to Invade Tehran to Free 52,”
Air Force Times, 25 September 1989, 24.
19. Weikel, letter; and Stovall, interview.
20. Tyner, study, 18.
21. Shipman, interview.
22. Ibid.
23. Susan L. Marquis, Unconventional Warfare (Washington, DC: Brook-
ings Institution Press, 1997), 77.
24. Maj Gen William J. Mall, “Commander Shares Insights,” Airlift Maga-
zine, Fall 1984, 1–3.
25. Shipman, interview.

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

26. Stovall, interview; and Tyner, study, 24.

27. Col Anthony Burshnick, interview by the author, 13 September 2002.
28. History of the Twenty-third Air Force pamphlet; and comments by Col
Tom Beres, retired, 15 October 2003.
29. Weikel, letter. This issue came up numerous times and is, in fact, a
simmering disagreement between the Army and Air Force special operations
communities. Also, Lt Col Richard Comer, interview by the author; and e-mail
from Gary Weikel to author, 5 September 2002.
30. Tyner, study, 28.
31. Ibid.
32. Ibid.
33. E-mail from Lt Col John Blumentritt to author, 28 August 2002.
34. Mr. Ted Lunger, interview by the author, 23 July 2002.
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid.
37. Tyner, study, 31.
38. US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) 10th Anniversary History,
HQ USSOCOM/SOCS-HO, MacDill AFB, FL, November 1999.
39. Comer, interview.
40. Kyle, Guts to Try, 89.
41. Comer, interview.
42. Weikel, e-mail to author, 8 August 2002.
43. SOCOM History, November 1999, 17–20.
44. Stovall, interview.
45. Military Air Command (MAC) History CY 90, vol. 1, 10.
46. Lt Gen Buster C. Glosson, interview by the author, 25 September 2002.
47. MAC History CY 89, vol. 1, xxxv.
48. US Air Force Rescue Force Structure Plan (RFSP), Support Document
I-79 to MAC History CY 89.
49. Tyner, study, 33.
50. Ibid., 35.
51. History of the Air Rescue Service, 1 January 1989–31 December 1990.
52. MAJ Mark Tucker, USA, interview by the author, 6 June 2002.
53. RFSP, B-2.
54. MAC History CY 89, vol. 1, 37.
55. CAPT Michael T. Fuqua, USN, “We Can Fix SAR in the Navy,” Proceed-
ings, September 1997, 57.
56. Shipman, interview.
57. Michael S. Breuninger, United States Combat Aircrew Survival Equip-
ment (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military/Aviation History, 1995), 160.
58. RFSP, 6-1.
59. Stovall, interview.
60. Michael R. Gordon and Gen Bernard E. Trainor, The Generals’ War:
The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf (New York: Little, Brown and Co.,
1994), 250.
61. Reported by several pilots who flew in Desert Storm.

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 THE INTERIM YEARS

62. International Civil Aeronautical Organization (ICAO) Circular 185,

Satellite-aided Search and Rescue—COSPAS-SARSAT System (Montreal, Can-
ada: ICAO, 1986), 17.
63. Summary of US Air Force Aircraft Losses in Southeast Asia, 12 Janu-
ary 1962–31 August 1973, K417.042-16.
64. Comer, interview. See also RFSP, 6-1. For an explanation of the GPS
and its use in Desert Storm, see Michael R. Rip and James M. Hasik, The
Precision Revolution GPS and the Future of Aerial Warfare (Annapolis, MD:
Naval Institute Press, 2002).

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 Chapter 3

Desert Shield

We came to do a job, and it’s a worthwhile job. So as far as I

am concerned, we will all stay until that job gets done.
—Lt Gen Chuck Horner

The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990 came as a

surprise to most Americans. It had been a pleasant summer
and most thoughts were on vacation, baseball, and football—
anything except war. The graphic news reports caused people
to stop and wonder what this all meant. Would there be gas lines
again? Would this mean war? Would this mean a military draft?
But to those individuals charged with protecting American
lives and interests in that part of the world, it came as no sur-
prise at all. In fact they had expected it for some time. The US
Central Command, or CENTCOM, had been reporting that the
possibility of such an Iraqi move was steadily increasing. The
prior day GEN Norman Schwarzkopf, CENTCOM commander,
had briefed Secretary of Defense Richard “Dick” Cheney that
an attack against Kuwait was imminent.1
Our nation’s response was swift in coming. Pres. George H. W.
Bush immediately took economic and political steps to punish
Iraq. In discussions with his senior advisors, he established
clear political objectives:
1. Remove the Iraqis from Kuwait.
2. Eliminate production and storage of weapons of mass de-
struction.
3. End Iraq’s capacity to threaten its neighbors over the next
five to 10 years.
4. Ensure that the full conventional military capabilities of
the United States would be used.
They also established a crucial limiting factor: the desire to
hold American military and Iraqi civilian casualties to a mini-
mum.2 This last factor was critical because recent history had

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 DESERT SHIELD

shown that the American public had little tolerance for the loss
of American lives. This would put a premium on having a CSAR
capability in-theater.
As the president was making these decisions, orders went
out to military units across the land to prepare for deployment.
Two aircraft carriers, the USS Independence and the USS
Dwight D. Eisenhower, and their supporting task forces imme-
diately sailed for the area.
Almost unnoticed in the rush of events was a report that GPS
satellite PRN-021 had been successfully launched into orbit
from Vandenberg AFB, California. Its orbit would specifically
cover the Persian Gulf area.3
Due to growing concern that Iraq might take drastic steps,
CENTCOM had recently held a war game at Hurlburt Field,
Florida, to explore how such an event would unfold—and its
repercussions. Called Internal Look, it presupposed such an
Iraqi attack against Kuwait. This was a radical change for the
command, because for years its fundamental war plans had as-
sumed the main threat of war in the region would be an attack
by Soviet forces through Iran to seize ports in the Gulf region.
Fortuitously, Internal Look forecast how such an Iraqi attack
could occur and suggested that CENTCOM needed to make
major changes to its primary war plan, OPLAN 1002-90. It
would also require a complete recalculation of the force deploy-
ment plan called the time-phased force and deployment list, or
“TPFDL,” as the planners called it. Such changes took time.
The staff at CENTCOM began the lengthy process of changing
it. The process was expected to take about a year.4
An annex buried within the massive plan laid out broad plan-
ning for CSAR operations. Its author was Army LTC Pete Har-
vell. He was a career special operations officer and worked in
the J-3 operations branch of CENTCOM, where he was the pri-
mary staff contact for CSAR. Using the changes generated by
Internal Look, he updated the CSAR annex to the war plan.5
On 5 August Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney and Secre-
tary of State James Baker traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with
King Fahd. They graphically laid out for him the danger that
faced his nation. Two days later the government of Saudi Ara-
bia formally asked for US military assistance.6 General Schwarz-
kopf was directed to execute his war plan. The current TPFDL

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 DESERT SHIELD

Source: 16 SOW History Office

Col George Gray was selected to be the commander of AFSOCCENT, the Air
Force component of SOCCENT.

was activated to direct the scheduling and flow of forces to the

area. It identified the units, personnel, and equipment that
would deploy. Over the next several months, more than 500,000
troops, 1,800 aircraft, and millions of tons of supplies and
heavy equipment would flow from around the world to the Gulf
region.7
Units of all services were identified for deployment to CENT-
COM. Air Force units deploying would be assigned to the CENT-
COM air forces component, or CENTAF; Army units to the army
component, ARCENT; Navy forces to the naval component,
NAVCENT; and Marine forces to MARCENT.
Since the creation of SOCOM, the Central Command now also
had a sub-unified command assigned from SOCOM. This was

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 DESERT SHIELD

called the Special Operations Command Central or SOCCENT

and was commanded by Army COL Jesse Johnson, a veteran of
the failed Eagle Claw operation in Iran in 1980.8
Forces were designated to be assigned to SOCCENT for con-
tingency operations from the special operations branches of
the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The Air Force units were from
the newly created AFSOC at Hurlburt. As the TPFDL began to
run, orders went out to units across the land. Some of the first
to receive orders were the units assigned to the AFSOC, pri-
marily in the 1st SOW, also at Hurlburt. In fact, its commander,
Col George Gray, was also designated to be the commander of
AFSOCCENT, the Air Force component of SOCCENT. As such
he would be Colonel Johnson’s head airman and would also
assume the operational duties of the joint special operations
air component commander or JSOACC. Colonel Gray took with
him Col Ben Orrell, his director of operations—the same Ben
Orrell who had received the Air Force Cross for the Bengal 505
rescue in Laos in 1972. When it came to combat rescue, he was
the expert.9
As per the war plan, personnel from the various units at Hurl-
burt were quickly recalled and ordered to prepare for deploy-
ment. Maintenance and support personnel worked feverishly to
get the aircraft and equipment ready to go. Personnel process-
ing and vaccination lines were set up to take care of the neces-
sary last-minute details prior to leaving. Several squadrons from
the 1st SOW were identified to go: the 8th SOS with its MC-
130E Combat Talons, the 9th SOS with its HC-130P/N Combat
Shadows, the 20th SOS with its MH-53J Pave Lows, the 55th
SOS with its MH-60G Pave Hawks, and the 1720th STG that
commanded combat control teams and pararescuemen.10
As the TPFDL ground on and identified the units to be alerted,
one deficiency jumped out at the planners—the rescue units
identified to support OPLAN 1002-90 were not available. They
had either been deactivated or were not shown as combat-
capable. In fact the Air Rescue Service was deep into its con-
version from HH-3s to the vastly improved HH-60Gs coming
off the production line. With personnel from several units
training on the new aircraft, ARS did not have any deployable,
combat-ready HH-60–equipped units to send. As one rescue

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 DESERT SHIELD

pilot noted at that time, “The Gulf War could not have occurred
at a worse time for the Air Rescue Service.”11
At least one HH-3 unit was ready though. The 71st Air Res-
cue Squadron in Alaska was combat-ready and willing to go,
but its commander, Lt Col Larry Helgeson, never learned why
his unit was not called. He noted,
The special operations forces units were more combat ready in that they
were better funded with better equipment and were better capable of
going in and doing it [combat recovery]. It [HH-3] was an older airplane.
It did not have the capabilities of what the special operations forces
aircraft had. . . . The HH-3 was a dated bird. It had its mission, but it
was in its prime back in the ’60s. It filled a gap and did provide a capa-
bility. But it was not the combat deep-penetration rescue vehicle. The
crews trained in it so they would keep those skills alive. But the ma-
chine was no longer viable.12

Regardless of the state of readiness in the ARS, CENTCOM

needed a force to do the combat rescue portion of CSAR. Fortu-
nately, there were Air Force officers in both CENTCOM and
SOCOM who knew that the combat rescue capability still re-
sided in the AFSOC helicopter and HC-130 communities. At
the time, Brig Gen Dale Stovall, who as a young captain had
received the Air Force Cross for the dramatic Roger Locher res-
cue in North Vietnam in 1972, was serving as the vice com-
mander of AFSOC. Since his days as a fired-up young HH-53
aircraft commander in Thailand, he had continued to mature
into another noted giant in the combat rescue community. He
recalled that “the physical equipment capability and the opera-
tional training and experience all resided within the MH-53
community.”13
There was still some skepticism about the efficacy of CSAR at
the highest levels of the Air Force. The future chief of staff, Gen
Merrill McPeak, made the comment—apparently more than
once—that in a high-threat war, combat rescue was perhaps
too dangerous. He was worried that the rescue crews would
take too many risks and become casualties themselves. “I don’t
want to trade three for one,” he stated, apparently thinking
back to his Vietnam days when he erroneously recalled that a
helicopter crew generally consisted of a crew of three.14
Earnest discussions took place between the various head-
quarters, both in the United States and in the theater. General
Stovall described how it worked:

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When you go into theater under the 1986 Congressional Act [Goldwater-
Nichols], the theater commander owns all the assets. Period. He can do
anything he wants with those assets. So they made the decision in the
theater that they were going to use them [the AFSOC helicopters] for
combat recovery . . . probably [General Horner] was involved in it or
somebody else there who said, “Hey, we have to have SAR. We don’t
have SAR capability within the Air Force. We need to go to Special Ops
Command and get them involved in it.”15

Other agendas played into the assignment. At CENTCOM J-3,

LTC Pete Harvell knew that Schwarzkopf harbored some hard
feelings towards special operations troops and had no enthusi-
asm for moving them quickly into the theater. Well familiar with
the war plan, he knew that significant special operations forces
were not due in until 90 days after the initial deployment of
troops. Harvell saw combat rescue as a way to get special op-
erations forces in early and pushed for SOCCENT to get the
tasking.16
This mission assignment to SOCCENT met some resistance
in SOCOM. Some Army officers in particular were upset about
using the MH-53s and MH-60s for combat recovery. Several
lamented the fact that SOCOM had put a lot of money into up-
grading and operating these helicopters to support their spe-
cific missions. All of that had paid off handsomely the previous
year in Panama during Operation Just Cause. Now it appeared
that a little “sleight of hand” was being used to grab them for
the combat recovery mission at the expense of other classic
special operations missions. General Stovall listened to the
bickering and then responded, “Okay, you tell the President
that you want to hold these back for special ops missions that
we are currently not flying rather than going out and picking
up somebody who has gotten shot down. You tell him.”17 That
ended that discussion. Col George Gray at the 1st SOW re-
membered it another way. “We got the rescue mission by virtue
of our being the only ones left out there that had the weapons
system that was capable of doing it,” he recalled.18
None of that really mattered to the men of the 20th SOS at
Hurlburt. Their instructions, as relayed by their commander,
Lt Col Rich Comer, were to get their aircraft ready to go and get
on the big cargo planes for the ride over. Comer knew that com-
bat recovery would be their priority mission. As an old rescue
guy, it suited him fine. He knew that, initially at least, about

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the only significant US combat power in the region would be

airpower. It would be responsible for providing the initial de-
fense of Saudi Arabia. His MH-53s would be the initial combat
recovery force.19
The forces for combat recovery would be under the com-
mand and control of SOCCENT. That was the command rela-
tionship that the combatant commander, General Schwarz-
kopf, wanted, and under the laws of the United States, it was
his call to make.20
As the AFSOC forces began to flow into the theater, the AF-
SOC commander made a courtesy call to the ARS commander
to inform him that Schwarzkopf had decided that the special
operations units being attached to SOCCENT would be assigned
the responsibility for combat rescue.21 This did not sit well with
many in the now-regenerating rescue community. Even though
their HH-53s had been taken away and replaced with older
HH-3s, they trained diligently for the mission and were enthu-
siastic to go. They knew that their old aircraft had limitations,
but they still wanted to deploy and provide what services they
could. After all, it was their job. Regardless of what the opera-
tional orders might say, THEY were the rescue guys. If rescue
were going to be needed, they wanted to be sent. A few HH-60s
had been delivered, and crews were being trained. Additionally,
some HH-60s had been delivered to Air National Guard units.
Already, members of those units were volunteering to go. Lt Col
Mark Tucker, now on the Air Staff, recalled that,
I was in SAF/AQL, classified acquisition. . . . I was appalled when I
heard that we were not sending any rescue units over. We could have
taken crews and aircraft from several units and sent them over to form
a provisional unit. ARS [commander John Woodruff] said, “No, we are
not going to do that.” We could have taken the lead crews . . . in order to
form a combat-capable unit. . . . I will never forget being absolutely ap-
palled at the decision not to take those crews and aircraft to marry them
together to form a combat-capable unit. Following 10 plus years after
Desert One, having watched that, I just couldn’t conceive that rescue
[ARS] would be willing again not to ante up the forces to go where the
fight was.22

Still, it wasn’t that simple. SOCCENT was glad to take the

mission. Like Comer, their commander Colonel Johnson knew
that the war would include some form of air campaign and that
projections showed that many aircraft would be downed. He

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intuitively understood that his troops were the right asset for
rescue. There was a larger issue, too. He knew that Schwarz-
kopf had an inherent distrust of the special operations forces
and was hesitant to give them any significant missions. Com-
bat rescue was their way of getting into the theater early, even
though it was not one of their primary missions.
General Schwarzkopf acquiesced to their deployment, but he
forbade Johnson from launching any cross-border operations
without his express approval because he feared that such ac-
tions could trigger a war before he was ready to fight it.23
Receiving the tasking, Colonel Johnson saluted smartly and
made combat rescue his command’s top priority.24 In fact, the
first assigned mission to the Army Special Forces teams and
Navy SEAL teams was to be ready to conduct recovery opera-
tions.25
On 9 August AFSOC was directed to begin sending advance
personnel to CENTCOM and SOCOM to do the endless coordi-
nation necessary for deployment. That evening, Lt Col J. V. O.
Weaver, Lt Col Randy Durham, Maj Robert Stewart, and Capt
Randy O’Boyle—all from the 1st SOW—left for MacDill AFB,
Florida, to assume positions on the CENTCOM staff. Within a
few days they had all departed for Saudi Arabia as part of the
initial contingent. The first was a 40-man team from all three
components. Arriving in Saudi Arabia, each group went its own
way and began looking for a place to bed down its following
units.
Colonel Weaver coordinated to have the arriving AFSOC units
placed at Dhahran International Airport, Saudi Arabia. Unfor-
tunately, that word did not get back to Hurlburt, and the first
contingent of four MH-53s, crews, and support personnel left
on two C-141s and a C-5 headed for Riyadh. Upon landing
there in one of the C-141s, the team leader discovered his mis-
take and diverted the other two aircraft to Dhahran. After they
landed and unloaded, he talked one of the C-141 crews into
coming to Riyadh to pick up the rest of his team and deliver
them to the correct location.
The CENTCOM staff also began to deploy from its peacetime
headquarters in Tampa, Florida, to Dhahran. One of the first to
go was LTC Pete Harvell along with other J-3 personnel aboard
an early C-141. Upon arrival they immediately began to set up

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the huge command center necessary for combat operations.

Harvell also began setting up the necessary CENTCOM structure
so that arriving SOCCENT-assigned units could immediately
assume rescue alert.26
Working feverishly in temperatures as high as 125˚F, 20th
SOS maintenance crews used borrowed tools and cranes to get
the MH-53s ready to fly by 16 August. Within days, two aircraft
a day were flying support for SOCCENT Army and Navy teams
along the Kuwaiti border. Additionally, one aircraft was con-
stantly on combat recovery alert, because intelligence indicated
that, at any time, the Iraqi forces in Kuwait could attack across
the Saudi border. In that case the MH-53s would need to fly up
immediately and extract the special forces teams along the bor-
der. The helicopters were also available for any in-country SAR
work. This was a major consideration because the number of
coalition aircraft in the region was increasing daily, and more
and more aircraft were flying local training sorties. Located not
far from a Saudi helicopter unit, Comer had some of his men
coordinate with the Saudis on local and regional recovery pro-
cedures.27
F-15s were now flying defensive patrols overhead daily to
guard against surprise Iraqi Air Force attacks. The MH-53 crews
were ready to mount necessary recovery efforts, even though
they had not yet received machine guns or ammunition for the
aircraft.28 Four more MH-53s were in place by early September,
and by midmonth the 20th SOS had it full complement of tools
and spare parts.
In mid-August CENTAF activated its Tactical Air Control
Center (TACC) in Riyadh. It rapidly began to fill with personnel
who were initially focused on developing an immediate plan to
deter and, if necessary, to stop an invasion of Saudi Arabia by
the Iraqi military. They had to set up the TACC outside of the
Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) headquarters in an inflated mod-
ule that was immediately labeled “the Bubble.”29
The commander of CENTAF, Lt Gen Charles Horner, at the
direction of General Schwarzkopf, deployed to Riyadh to act as
the “front man” for CENTCOM as the entire process kicked into
high gear. He monitored the initial efforts to develop a defensive
force and capability, but his mind was on offensive operations.

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At Schwarzkopf’s request an initial strategic air campaign

plan had been developed by Col John Warden, the head of the
“Checkmate” division on the Air Staff in Washington. Warden
briefed the concept to Schwarzkopf and chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, GEN Colin Powell, and was then sent to Saudi
Arabia to brief General Horner. Horner accepted the briefing as
the basis for an offensive campaign plan; but to turn it into an
executable plan, he needed a planning staff in Riyadh. He
grabbed Brig Gen Buster Glosson, a career fighter pilot, to head
that effort.
Glosson had been assigned as the vice commander of a joint
task force in the Gulf and jumped at the chance to join Horner
and the growing CENTAF team. Glosson was a bit of an enigma.
Personable and slow talking, he had spent time working in legis-
lative liaison. The gentle demeanor that he had developed there
belied the driven, hard-charging fighter-pilot attitude within.
The responsibilities that he was accepting would require the
use of both skill sets as he immediately began to build a small
staff called the Special Planning Group. The group met behind
closed doors, and the workers immediately dubbed it the “Black
Hole.”30
Lt Col Randy Durham and Maj Robert Stewart deployed from
MacDill to serve as the SOCCENT liaison element in the TACC.
Capt Randy O’Boyle was detailed to the CENTAF staff to act as
the special operations liaison there. O’Boyle was a young MH-53
pilot and had grown up in the 20th SOS. The big Irishman was
never at a loss for words on any subject. Some interpreted this
as bombast, but those who spent time around him soon came
to realize that he knew his stuff. He was intense in all he did—
work, athletics, flying, partying—it was rumored that he con-
sidered any party a failure if the police did not arrive at least
twice. He was, as another unit pilot said, “a piece of work,” and
he was ready to go to war.
Before leaving Hurlburt, O’Boyle was grabbed by Colonel
Comer. He knew that Randy would somehow end up in the
thick of things and made him promise that he would not com-
mit the 20th SOS to anything until he discussed it with Comer.
O’Boyle saluted smartly and headed out.
Between 20 and 22 August the 9th SOS arrived with four
HC-130 aircraft. They settled at King Fahd International Air-

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port (KFIA). Nine days later, Col George Gray, commander of

the 1st SOW, arrived to assume his duties as AFSOCCENT and
JSOACC.31
George Gray was another classic individual. Stout with a
shock of red hair, he initially started out as a cargo pilot and
transitioned to special operations assignments back in the ’80s.
He loved his job as commander of the 1st SOW and flew in all
of the assigned aircraft as much as he could. He took a stern
line with his troops and pushed them hard, but he also loved
them and gave them the best care he could. Their fights were
his fights. He knew that his unit would soon face hard combat.
That was as it should be. But he did not intend to lose any of
them—at least not needlessly.
Prior to leaving MacDill, O’Boyle had reviewed the command
CSAR guidance currently in effect for CENTCOM. Arriving in
the TACC, he set up a desk and, not having anything else to do,
started working on a detailed combat recovery plan for the the-
ater. He put up a map and began drawing lines into Iraq. His
map caught the attention of one of the planners in the planning
cell, Lt Col Steve “Foose” Wilson. Another career fighter pilot,
Fuss was assigned to the fighter plans shop on the Air Staff in
the Pentagon. When significant air units started heading for
Saudi Arabia, he was dispatched to act as an Air Staff liaison
to the CENTAF staff, where Glosson grabbed him and threw
him into the Black Hole.
What went on in the Black Hole was a big secret because any
planning for offensive action against Iraq was forbidden at this
time. That was why the lines on O’Boyle’s map drew Wilson’s
attention. Why, Foose asked, was O’Boyle doing what he was
doing? O’Boyle flashed his best Irish smile and replied that he
figured that they would eventually need an overall CSAR plan,
and since he had been the plans officer in the 1st SOW at Hurl-
burt and knew a few things about CSAR, he would start the
process.
Wilson then asked Randy increasingly detailed questions
about the capabilities of various aircraft and how they would
conduct combat rescue missions. Randy continued to explain.
Finally, Wilson said, “Follow me,” and took the young captain
into a classified room, where he introduced him to Lt Col Dave
Deptula. Deptula had come over with John Warden and had

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Photo courtesy of Randy O’Boyle

Capt Randy O’Boyle and Brig Gen Buster Glosson

also been hijacked by Glosson for his team. He asked more

questions. Sensing his moment, O’Boyle started talking. Dep-
tula liked what he was hearing and said to O’Boyle, “We need
you,” and took him in to see Glosson. The process was repeated,
and Glosson told O’Boyle that he was now part of the planning
team in the Black Hole. O’Boyle was briefed into the detailed
Top Secret planning to design an air campaign plan against
Iraq and directed to step up his rescue planning and fit it into
the larger effort.32 In short order Glosson came to consider
O’Boyle his “right hand man or even alter ego” for rescue.33
Captain O’Boyle was not working in a vacuum. CENTCOM
had addressed CSAR in its theater war plan. The overall war
plan for CENTCOM was USCINCCENT OPLAN 1002-90. It had
been recently reviewed and updated by Colonel Harvell and the
troops in J-3, and was dated 18 July 1990. ANNEX C specified
basic policies and procedures for participation of US military
forces in SAR activities within the CENTCOM area of responsi-
bility (AOR). It also noted that no SAR forces were apportioned
to CENTCOM for the plan.

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It presented several key definitions:

1. Search and Rescue (SAR)—Use of aircraft, surface craft,
submarines, personnel, and equipment to locate and re-
cover personnel in distress on land or at sea.
2. Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR)—A specialized SAR
task performed by rescue-capable forces to effect recov-
ery of distressed personnel from hostile territory during
contingency operations or wartime.
3. Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC)—A primary
SAR facility suitably staffed by supervisory personnel of
two or more services and equipped for coordinating SAR
operations.
4. Rescue Coordination Center (RCC)—A primary SAR facili-
ty suitably staffed by supervisory personnel and equipped
for coordinating and controlling SAR operations at com-
ponent level or higher.
5. SAR Coordinator (SC)—The designated SAR representa-
tive of the area commander, with overall responsibility and
authority for operation of the JRCC and for joint SAR op-
erations within the assigned geographical area. (For this
OPLAN, the SAR coordinator was General Horner).34
The concept of operations stated that General Schwarzkopf as
the area commander had primary responsibility and authority
for SAR in the CENTCOM AOR and would ensure the develop-
ment of plans and procedures for the effective employment of all
available SAR resources.
The various component commanders—COMUSARCENT, CO-
MUSCENTAF, COMUSMARCENT, COMUSNAVCENT, and COM-
SOCCENT—would provide organic SAR forces as appropriate
and would provide supervisory liaison personnel to the JRCC to
effect required coordination of the SAR effort for all US forces.
All component commanders could use organic resources for ini-
tial efforts to recover personnel.
Additionally, component/supporting commanders would
1. Be prepared to support and/or conduct SAR operations
when feasible or as directed by the SC.

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2. Establish an RCC to facilitate the execution of SAR opera-

tions.
3. Provide the JRCC with SAR liaison officers (SARLO) as
appropriate.
As the SC, Horner had different tasks. Specifically, he could
1. Direct components to conduct SAR operations on a mis-
sion priority basis. He also had authority to use assets
from any component for SAR operations, assuring that
assets required for SAR were not diverted from compo-
nent commander missions with a higher USCINCCENT-
established priority.
2. Maintain the JRCC at the TACC and, through MAC, pro-
vide the nucleus of SAR controllers. Provide the senior
ranking officer facilities and communications for the US-
CENTCOM.
3. Establish an RCC, as appropriate.
4. Coordinate with the JRCC for SAR requirements and ad-
vise the JRCC of any unilateral actions taken by forces in
the prosecution of SAR missions.
Under his direction, the JRCC had the authority to
1. Control and coordinate SAR operations within the AOR.
Operational control was exercised by the SAR coordina-
tor through the JRCC and the component RCC/SAR con-
trollers.
2. Task supporting/component commanders with SAR mis-
sions, as directed by the SAR coordinator.
3. Maintain close liaison and coordination with forces of
other nations, international agencies, and appropriate
DOD or CENTCOM representatives on SAR activities in
the AOR. Where international SAR forces were available
and capable of lending assistance in SAR operations, co-
ordination would be effected by the JRCC to incorporate/
utilize the assets made available by these forces.
4. Develop SAR plans.35

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Cascading down from this, COMUSCENTAF had published an

OPLAN 1002-90 and OPLAN 1021-90 BASE CASE that ampli-
fied and clarified more specific procedures.36
Captain O’Boyle was also not the only AFSOC troop working
on CSAR. In August Maj Ken Black of the 8th SOS worked with
several CSAR specialists to develop an initial plan directing
CSAR operations during Desert Shield. It was, in part, consoli-
dated into the long-term CSAR planning that Captain O’Boyle
was doing. That plan divided the AOR into four regions: north,
west, central, and east.
At the same time, SMSgt Dan Hodler and TSgt Scott Morrison
from the 1720 STG, and TSgt Ken Matney, an Air Force survival
instructor from the Survival School at Fairchild AFB, Washing-
ton, began physically setting up the JRCC within the TACC.
They also began another effort to build a theater CSAR plan.37
As these efforts were progressing, CENTAF sent a request to
the ARS for augmentation to fill the JRCC. In early September,
these men were joined by a team of nine officers and enlisted
personnel from the AFRCC at Scott AFB. The leader was Lt Col
Joe Hampton, a navigator and career rescueman, currently as-
signed as the chief of rescue coordination operations. They
were joined by another group from Ninth Air Force out of Shaw
AFB, South Carolina. It was headed by Maj Joe Stillwell.
As the senior officer, Hampton would be the overall director.
He had to meld the two groups into a team. He did not antici-
pate that this would be a problem since most of the personnel
had long rescue backgrounds. Yet none had any actual CSAR
experience. Hampton himself had entered the Air Force in the
early ’70s but missed any service in Southeast Asia.
Hampton was a little worried because there was so much to
do. He took steps to get all of his people the necessary security
clearances, requested the communications and phone lines
that they needed, and instituted an internal CSAR training
program. Overall, Hampton was comfortable with the setup. He
had worked with the men and women from Shaw on several
exercises focused on the Middle East and was very familiar
with the theater.38
Hampton assumed that prior to actual combat operations,
his team would have opportunities to take part in several war
games and local exercises. Given the joint and ultimately com-

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bined nature of their work, Hampton also went to work to get

representatives from each of the services to work directly in the
JRCC. He also asked for a Saudi and a British representative.
Over the next months all of his requests were met.
After conducting a physical inventory of the JRCC set up by
the AFSOC troops, Hampton was not satisfied. The center had
only one phone, and it could not be used for classified calls.
They had to go to another section to make radio calls. Their
dedicated equipment pallet had not arrived.
Shortly after arriving, Hampton met with Horner. The gen-
eral made it clear that Hampton worked for him and that he
personally put a lot of priority on CSAR. He also told Hampton
that anytime he needed anything, he was to go directly to the
colonel running that shift. If that did not solve the problem
Hampton was to come to him. Hampton saluted smartly and
got back to building his operation.39
At about the same time Hampton and his men were unpack-
ing their bags, the 55th SOS began arriving with their eight
MH-60 Pave Hawks. Within a week, the crews were taking ori-
entation flights. A few days later they were working with ground
teams from the Navy and Army. The SOCCENT fleet of helicop-
ters continued to expand and settle into their missions.40 They
were steadily augmented, not only with PJs arriving from the
1723d Special Tactics Squadron, but also with troops from
units all over the globe.
In early September, as Hampton and his team were getting
settled in, he called for a meeting in Riyadh of all units and
personnel who would be involved in CSAR. O’Boyle called
Comer from the 20th SOS and told him about it. Comer at-
tended as did several other commanders and planning repre-
sentatives. He was pushing his squadron hard to be ready and
needed to know what their particular combat rescue responsi-
bilities were going to be. He knew that the JRCC had been
formed and needed details so he could plan, allocate assets,
and assign troops. The meeting did not answer his questions.
He recalled,
I was talking to Joe Hampton, the guy holding the meeting. What he
initially had was Saudi Arabia cut up into sectors, sections, and circles.
Circles were based on aircraft ranges from bases, where the Saudis
were, and Air Force and Army helicopters. It was, “You guys are going

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to do this and you guys are going to do this, and you guys are going to
handle it if it is here,” and it was basically a peacetime SAR [plan]. . . .
There were no capabilities-based divisions to that. It was just, “If you’ve
got a helicopter, will it go this far?” THERE WAS NOTHING COMBAT
ABOUT IT. It was all peacetime. I said, “Well, this is all well and good.
Where is our combat plan?” I think he said, “We don’t have anything, we
aren’t ready to do that yet.”41

Comer left the meeting very frustrated. He did not have the
guidance he needed and would have to improvise. There was
still so much to do.
Joe Hampton and his troops begged and scrounged for mate-
rial. They lacked everything. In fact, about all that they had
initially were a few laptop computers for administrative items.
While building his operations center, he discovered that the
planning efforts of O’Boyle and the others were well advanced.
Working with them, he completed a theater CSAR plan by late
October. Additionally, SOCCENT had formalized its plans.
In November the JRCC published the detailed instructions
for CSAR in the AOR titled, Operation Desert Shield Combat
Search and Rescue Plan, dated 1 November 1990. It was signed
by Horner and his Saudi counterpart, Lt Gen Ahmed Behery.
Its purpose was to “provide a combined Personnel Recovery
(PR)/Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) Plan which will inte-
grate into a cooperative network available to Saudi Arabian,
US, and other capable and interested parties. The available re-
sources will be coordinated by a single combined agency in
order to afford greater protection of life and ensure efficiency
and economy.”42
In this plan the JRCC was designated as the combined agency
for SAR operations in Desert Shield. It listed, in detail, its own
responsibilities and those of its tasked units. The JRCC would
consider search missions in which the location and condition
of the objective(s) [survivor(s)] were unknown, or rescue mis-
sions in support of survivors or other persons in distress whose
locations and nature were known. Additionally, they were pre-
pared to coordinate rescues throughout the AOR, which in-
cluded Iraq, Kuwait, the Persian Gulf and its adjacent coun-
tries, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and a slice of the Arabian
Sea down toward Diego Garcia.
Each service component was then tasked by the higher head-
quarters’ OPLANs to establish its own RCC and be prepared to

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handle intracomponent rescue missions. Those missions be-

yond any component’s abilities would be referred to the JRCC.
Each component was also expected to have organic forces avail-
able for rescue missions at the JRCC’s request, yet each would
maintain operational control for launch of its own forces. Hamp-
ton explained that,
They [each component] had launch authority. They had command and
control of each asset for the mission. . . . As far as the tactics, the
launching, what crews to use, how to use them—that was up to the
command who owned and trained them like the [SOF] forces or the Ma-
rines if we tasked them or the Army, if we tasked them for this. It may
have been different than what was in Vietnam, but at the same time,
the environment, the way things were operating, rather than try to build
up an organization saying “we own this stuff,” well, we didn’t have
enough assets to do that. And it would take away from [their] opera-
tions.43

SOCCENT received the same tasking. But it would also be the

primary combat recovery force theaterwide since its specially
modified MH-53s and MH-60s were widely recognized as the
best asset for recovery in enemy territory.44 SOCCENT would
maintain operational control (OPCON) over the launch of its as-
signed helicopters.
In coordinating this plan, Colonel Harvell fought hard to en-
sure that SOCCENT maintained operational control of the heli-
copters. He harbored an inherent fear that the Air Force opera-
tions officers in the TACC did not have a realistic feel for what
the special operations forces could and could not do.45
Taskings were also included for each of the participating coali-
tion forces. The Air Force RCC was, in fact, the JRCC. The Army
RCC was located with ARCENT headquarters. The Marine RCC
was located in the Marine Tactical Air Control Center (MTACC)
at Shaikh Isa, Bahrain. Since the Marines as a service did not
“officially” do CSAR, they had no specific RCC. In fact, they had
TRAP (tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel) teams desig-
nated and some H-46 and UH-1 helicopters. They were kept on
call by the MTACC.46
The Navy had its NRCC (naval rescue coordination center)
with NAVCENT aboard the USS Blue Ridge in the Persian Gulf.
Under the NRCC, Combined Task Force (CTF) 151 served as
the regional SAR controller for Battle Force Zulu in the Persian
Gulf and was responsible for planning CSAR operations over

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water. It had the authority to directly coordinate with SOC-

CENT. CTF 155 operated as Battle Force Yankee in the Red
Sea. There, a SARC (search and rescue coordinator) was lo-
cated aboard the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy and co-
ordinated the rescue actions of that area.47
The Saudi military had its RCC equivalent in its air combat
operation center (ACOC). The Royal Saudi Air Force had heli-
copter squadrons throughout the country and was primarily
responsible for in-country rescue.
The British had a rescue center set up with its Nimrod detach-
ment at Seeb, Oman. Coordination took place through the Mari-
time cell in the CENTCOM combined headquarters in Riyadh.
The French Air Force kept a liaison officer in the TACC who
could immediately contact his forces. They had a detachment
of Puma helicopters at Al Ahsa Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
Every service component except the Air Force had helicopter
assets in-theater that could be used for recoveries. Since the
JRCC did not have operational control of any of the component
assets, neither Hampton nor his controllers could order them
to launch. They could ask, but they could not order.
Colonel Gray became a little concerned during the detailed
CSAR planning. He was being told that SOCCENT was respon-
sible for CSAR. That was impossible. CSAR is a process that
includes locating survivors, marshaling forces, and then going
in and making a recovery. His forces could not locate survivors.
They did not have control of the assets to do that. Nor did they
have the authority to direct other forces for rescue operations.
All of that had to be done by the JRCC. He made it clear that
the helicopters and crew under SOCCENT were CR (combat
rescue) assets.
While the DALS equipment was on board some helicopters, it
did not work well at low altitude, which is where the helicopters
had to operate in high-threat areas. CSAR history clearly
showed that helicopters were at high risk of being shot down in
high-threat areas if they attempted to remain there for any
amount of time. Neither he nor his commander, Colonel John-
son, was going to allow his helicopters to be sent into high-
threat areas to run search patterns. Colonel Gray said that, “If
you run across a platoon of deployed guys, they can shoot your
butt right out of the sky and God only knows we couldn’t track

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divisions, much less platoons. A squad could put maybe a cou-

ple of rounds in you. Hell, a platoon, 35 or 40 guys with AK-
47s, would just eat you up.”48
He explained that before committing one of his helicopters for
a combat recovery, he needed to have an accurate location for
the survivor(s). It was a critical factor in deciding whether or not
to commit an aircraft and its crew.49 Additionally, he told Horner
that if someone were down in a high-threat area, he wanted the
downed crewmembers to evade/hide until night when the heli-
copters would have a reasonable chance of recovery and sur-
vival.50
He and Colonel Johnson laid out three criteria for commit-
ting a helicopter for a combat rescue:
1. The location of the survivor(s) is known.
2. Evidence of aircrew survival:
a. Visual parachute sighting, and/or
b. Voice transmission from the crewmember and au-
thentication.51
3. A favorable enemy threat analysis.52
Capt Tim Minish, another Pave Low pilot, had been assigned
to work with the intelligence section in the TACC. He joined
with O’Boyle to write the SOCCENT annexes to the CSAR plans.
They designed a series of “spider routes” or predesignated rout-
ings for use by the SOCCENT helicopters for flying into Iraq
and Kuwait. These routes and the points that defined them
could be preloaded into the navigation computers of the heli-
copters. This could save precious minutes when helicopters
had to be scrambled to recover downed crews.53
Capt Corby Martin, an MH-53 standardization and evalua-
tion pilot from the 20th SOS, joined O’Boyle and Minish in their
efforts. Together, they continued to refine helicopter operations.
The Iraqi-Kuwaiti portion of the AOR was split into four sec-
tions: west, central, east, and north. SOCCENT helicopters
would cover the west, central, and east. In the west sector, he-
licopters would be kept at Al-Jouf and forward at ArAr. In the
center section they would be placed at King Khalid Military City
(KKMC) and Rafha. In the east, they would reside at Ras Al
Mishab on the coast.54 CENTCOM had assurances that US air-

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crews would be safe in Iran, but nobody put much stock in

that. Jordan was considered hostile, with intelligence indicat-
ing that downed crews there would either be turned over to the
Iraqis or possibly be at physical risk because of the hostilities
of the Palestinians.55
The north sector was almost 900 miles away. They realized
that to cover that section, SOCCENT would need augmenta-
tion, preferably by rescue elements in Turkey. That was a prob-
lem that they could not solve. Captain O’Boyle did express his
concerns to Glosson, who listened but had neither the author-
ity to commit forces there nor the forces available to commit.56
Meanwhile, the helicopter crews were feverishly training for
their missions. This included extensive night operations to in-
clude refueling as low as 500 feet above the ground. This gave
the crews ample opportunity to get comfortable flying with their
terrain-following radar and night-vision devices across the
broad expanses of Saudi Arabia.57
Continuing to build up the JRCC, Colonel Hampton was con-
cerned about their ability to locate downed airmen. He was not
comfortable with the PRC-90 radios issued to the flyers and ad-
dressed his concerns to one of the colonels on the TACC staff.
Hampton told him,
If we are going to locate these people, we have to do certain things. The
PRC-90 sucks. Get rid of it. I want PRC-112s for all the guys going in
country. And I want to get some sort of [RC-]135 or a [British] Nimrod,
or maybe an A-10 or somebody who is going to have the interrogator
[DALS] on board that aircraft. I want him up there, flying around, on
the border if necessary so that when a guy goes down, we’ve got some
kind of location. [I was told] we can’t afford it. . . . So there was a prob-
lem there of being able to locate a guy. So we would rely on Rivet Joint,
AWACS, wingman reports, [or] intelligence gathering from Iraqi commu-
nications.58

As the air campaign plan developed, the ever hard-charging

O’Boyle proposed to Colonel Gray that they set up “laagers,” or
protected camps, at various locations in Iraq. These defended
positions would be staging points for helicopters and crews sit-
ting on alert for recovery missions. They would reduce response
time for what were expected to be heavy losses. The idea was
discussed with LTC Pete Harvell on the CENTCOM staff. He
liked the idea, but in considering its ramifications, he realized
that to do so on any kind of permanent basis would be extremely

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costly in terms of personnel, logistics, and wear and tear on the

helicopters just ferrying everybody back and forth. Colonel Gray
considered it too, but eventually turned it down, deciding that it
was far too risky and put the crews at too high a risk. Yet he was
pleased at the aggressiveness of his young airmen.59

Navy Reserve
In November President Bush directed his commanders to be-
gin making plans for offensive operations. This would necessitate
an increase of US forces in the region. Using the authority granted
them by President Bush in his presidential selected reserve call-
up, the Navy activated its two reserve rescue units, HCS-4 (Red
Wolves) and HCS-5 (Firehawks). The reservists reported for duty
at their respective bases 30 November. In early December, 97 of-
ficers and enlisted troops departed with four of their SH-60Hs for
Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where they would operate as a consoli-
dated unit, HCS-4/5 Spikes (specially prepared individuals for
key events), and collocate with an RSAF rescue unit.
In place and set up by 14 December, the unit was under the
operational control of CTF 155, the Red Sea battle group. Their
first assigned mission was to sit alert with Navy SEALs (Sea,
Air, Land—US Navy special forces) from SEAL Team Two as a
maritime interdiction force. Several exercises were held, but no
actual missions were flown.
On 16 January the unit was assigned to tactical control (TA-
CON) of SOCCENT and redeployed to Al-Jouf. Immediately, two
aircraft were dispatched to the forward field at ArAr to sit CSAR
alert. Colonel Comer from the 20th SOS started working with
them and was immediately impressed with their enthusiasm
and professional approach to their duties. Additionally, the unit
was augmented with a SEAL detachment equipped with fast at-
tack vehicles (FAV) for possible land operations or to serve as
augmentees on the helicopters. The Spikes maintained this sta-
tus with aircraft on alert 24 hours a day for the next 51 days.60

Air Force Reserve

Under the same presidential recall authorization, the Air
Force in December directed the call-up and mobilization of the

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HH-3–equipped 71st SOS located at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ari-

zona. This was a first-class unit, which had traditionally trained
hard to include becoming proficient flying with night-vision
goggles (NVG). Its 150 personnel reported for duty on 21 De-
cember and were immediately processed onto active status.
While waiting for deployment, the unit HH-3s received several
equipment modifications that greatly upgraded their capabili-
ties. Consequently the aircraft were changed from an “H” des-
ignation to an “MH” designation. Under the command of Lt Col
Robert Stenevik, unit personnel began deploying to Saudi Ara-
bia on 10 January. Four days later the unit was in place with
five MH-3 aircraft ready for tasking under the operational con-
trol of SOCCENT. For the next 51 days, unit aircraft and crews
would be on alert for combat recovery tasking, either out of
their bed-down base at King Fahd International Airport or at
the recovered Kuwaiti barge Sawahil docked at Ras Al Mishab.
They were also available for any other tasked missions. Given
their ability to land on water, they were especially sought out
for missions in support of SEAL teams.61

Army
In early September the 3d Battalion of the 160th (3d/160th)
Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) deployed its MH-
60s to KKMC. Attached to and under the operational control of
SOCCENT, they were tasked by Col George Gray, the JSOACC,
as were the assets of AFSOC as they arrived. Experts at night-
time small-team insertions and extractions, they could also be
used on combat recovery. This was not normally a mission as-
signed to them, but working with men from the 20th SOS, they
began to train to the mission. They were reinforced with a se-
curity and medical detachment from the 2d Battalion of the 5th
Special Forces.
During Desert Shield the unit trained for combat rescue and
developed the capability, especially at night, using NVG. Addi-
tionally, during the initial phase of Desert Storm, they main-
tained 50 percent of their aircraft on combat rescue alert and
were responsible for the central sector.62

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Global Positioning Systems

In late November the US Space Command (USSPACECOM)
launched another GPS satellite. This was the 23d launch in the
program. Sixteen of the transmitters were now in orbit and ca-
pable of providing guidance in the Gulf region. This would en-
sure 22 hours of coverage a day. Unfortunately, three of the
satellites began to develop mechanical problems. Working con-
tinuously, the men and women of the 2d Satellite Control Squad-
ron, located at Colorado Springs, Colorado, kept all 16 of the
GPS transmitters online and providing accurate navigational
guidance.63
In the United States, crash orders had gone out for small
lightweight GPS receivers (SLGR). More than 10,000 were de-
livered before Desert Storm. Almost half were shipped to the
desert.64 There the fielded forces of the coalition quickly be-
came adept at using them. Navigational kits were also shared
with coalition forces, who immediately realized how the devices
made accurate navigation over the trackless expanses of the
desert much easier.
The coalition aircraft had other navigational systems avail-
able, such as the long-range aid to navigation (LORAN) system,
inertial navigation systems (INS), or Doppler as their primary
navigational instruments. They were not nearly as accurate as
GPS and/or had significant drift rates. Those using the GPS
noticed that the maps issued to them were based on old sur-
veys and had errors of as much as three miles.
As more and more units, ships, and aircraft were equipped
with these advanced devices, commanders at all levels began to
realize that GPS gave them unparalleled ability to navigate rap-
idly and accurately throughout the theater. But to be properly
used, GPS had to be set to a common navigational reference or
datum. In reviewing this, USSPACECOM directed that all units
should use the World Geodetic Reference System 1984 (WGS84)
as the common datum. This would ensure that two GPS units
at the same location would read the same coordinates. This
would not necessarily be the same as coordinates read with
LORAN, INS, or other navigation systems.65

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The Campaign Plan

By December Glosson and his team in the Black Hole had
developed the overall air campaign plan. It would consist of
four phases:
I. Strategic Air Campaign. This phase was designed to gain
control of the airspace and attack Iraqi leadership; nuclear, bio-
logical, and chemical weapons; Scud missiles; and electric and
oil infrastructure. By seizing control of the theater airspace,
aerial forces could then prosecute the rest of the campaign. This
would involve attacking the Iraqi Air Force, both in the air and
on the ground, and destroying its command and control facili-
ties and radars.
II. Air Superiority over the KTO (Kuwaiti Theater of Op-
erations). This was, in fact, redundant with Phase I but in-
cluded at the specific insistence of General Schwarzkopf.
III. Preparation of the Battlefield. This called for direct
attacks on Iraqi fielded forces such as tanks, vehicles, and ar-
tillery. It also meant degrading the fighting morale of the Iraqi
troops. The specific goal was to destroy 50 percent of Iraqi ar-
mor and artillery before the initiation of a coalition ground of-
fensive.
IV. The Ground War. In this phase, the focus would be on
providing direct support to the massive coalition ground units
as they attacked and destroyed the Iraqi army—especially the
Republican Guard units in and near Kuwait.66
Implicit in the planning was the expectation that SOCCENT
helicopters would be available, even eager to go in and rescue
the downed aircrews.67 CENTAF had its CSAR plan in place.
The necessary force was available and the troops were honing
their skills.

CSAR Exercises
Over the next several months, the JRCC and SOCCENT con-
ducted a total of six CSAR exercises, or CSAREXes. The first
was in September and focused on command and control is-
sues. Subsequent exercises increased in sophistication and in-
cluded survivors placed in the desert and in the Gulf. Elements
from all services and allies were involved. They worked dili-

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gently to iron out command and control issues and allow the
various components to work together.68
Different scenarios were used. Some involved single-seat air-
craft; others used larger crews replicating the loss of something
like a C-130. Exercise Desert Force in December focused on
command and control. Exercise Search and Rescue in January
exercised all units and control elements.69
The exercises took place in the desert and the Persian Gulf
and involved all allies. A-10s worked at leading in rescue heli-
copters. Navy SEALs practiced stealth operations. Air Force PJs
and Army Special Forces troops practiced overland recovery
techniques. In this scenario, an MH-53 would drop off a ground
element at an offset delivery point. The team would then infil-
trate, make the recovery, and exfiltrate to another point for re-
covery by the MH-53s. This technique could be used if an air-
crew were down in an extremely dangerous area where coalition
aircraft could not survive at low level. Most of these operations
were conducted at night when the lumbering helicopters had
the best chance of success.70
Rich Comer thought the exercises were very useful, recalling:
We had one full scenario CSAR with the A-10s. . . . It was daytime. . . .
We expected to do CSAR at night. We wanted to wait until darkness if
possible. We felt that the air threat was such that we pretty much had
to for survivability purposes. . . . And those heat-seeking missiles were
out there. If they saw us in the daylight, we were toast. We had IRCM
[infra-red countermeasures] and all of that but we did not feel that we
could go cruising around in the open desert with no cover. . . . I wanted
to use MH-60s in the day. The MH-53 loses its advantage in the day, too
big a cross section. The MH-60s were smaller. The 55th SOS and the
Navy reserve unit had them. They [HCS-4/5] were an impressive bunch
of guys. They really wanted to go. They were willing. But they were ill
equipped, no FLIR, no night capability.71

Each exercise was digested and critiqued. Everybody was sensi-

tive to the possibility of coalition troops being taken as POWs.
The president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, sensed this too. In
threatening the “mother of all battles” if we attacked, he said to
the US ambassador, “Yours is a society which cannot accept
10,000 deaths in one battle.”72
The fear of significant American casualties was overriding
and drove the planners and commanders in Riyadh. Early air
campaign planning suggested coalition losses as high as 300

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aircraft. The planning for the first night suggested that 10 per-
cent of the aircraft sent would be lost. The wing commander of
the F-111Fs expected to lose more because of the type of tar-
gets that his crews were being sent against.73 General Glosson
estimated that they should not lose more than 50 fixed-wing
aircraft. If the losses were heavier, he felt that it would be the
result of their failure, and in that case, President Bush would
have been more than justified in firing all of them.74 General
Horner himself predicted the loss of 42 USAF aircraft alone.75
The planners also noted that when the Iraqis invaded Ku-
wait, the Kuwaiti air defenses—consisting of modern I-Hawk
missile batteries and massed antiaircraft artillery (AAA)—had
downed 39 Iraqi aircraft in that short but intense battle.76 The
principal author of the initial air campaign plan for the war,
Colonel Warden, estimated that 10 to 15 aircraft would be lost
the first day and then no more than 40 overall.77
Reasonable people could logically or rationally disagree on
predictions. Their concerns though were based on solid intelli-
gence data on Iraq. First, stung by the destruction of its nuclear
plant by Israeli aircraft in 1981, Iraq had gone on a multibillion-
dollar spending binge and had built an extensive air defense
force. It consisted of an integrated series of modern radars, com-
munications centers, airfields, and fighter-interceptors. The
American planners had a healthy respect for the system and
called it “KARI,” backwards for the French spelling of Iraq.
Second, historical data showed that 85 percent of all aircraft
shot down were downed by AAA and shoulder-fired SAMs.78
Intelligence data showed that KARI also included over 8,000
AAA weapons in both fixed and mobile sites. Additionally, the
Iraqis had almost that many heat-seeking (infrared) SAMs.
These two weapons combined were especially dangerous to he-
licopters.79
Before the coalition aircraft could have much of an impact
against Iraq, they had to deal with KARI. Phase I of the air cam-
paign was intended, in part, to eliminate Iraq’s ability to shoot
down our aircraft. Traditionally, this was done through a “roll-
back” effort designed to systematically destroy enemy air de-
fenses. But the Black Hole desired to try a new approach with
some tactical innovations. Using the latest in stealth and cruise
missile technologies, they proposed attacking the heart of KARI

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at the beginning. A fleet of F-117s and cruise missiles would

strike into the heart of Iraq and destroy their command and
control centers. Then, when the various sectors had been bro-
ken down into independent operations, they would destroy se-
lected radar sites, which would create a corridor for waves of
conventional strike aircraft to enter Iraq and begin hitting the
designated strategic targets. As they did, they would be sup-
ported with electronic jamming aircraft, accompanied by F-4G
“Wild Weasels” and F-18s, both firing HARMs that would then
find and destroy the individual enemy radars.80
To do the sophisticated and highly technical planning for the
“electronic war,” Horner brought over an expert in that busi-
ness, Brig Gen Larry Henry. Henry was a career electronic war-
fare specialist and had acquired the nom de guerre of “Poobah.”
He set out to determine the best way to strip Iraq of its ability
to defend itself from the onslaught of the coalition air effort. He
and his small but highly specialized planning team began to
look for ways to blow holes through the enemy radar picket
lines along the Saudi-Iraqi border.

Task Force Normandy

Thinking along the same lines, Capt Randy O’Boyle made a
novel suggestion. Intelligence showed that the Iraqis had placed
early warning radars as close as one mile to the Saudi border.
He suggested putting in Army SOF teams to attack and destroy
the sites. SOCCENT worked up a plan to accomplish that. But
to be successful, the teams needed precision navigation gear.
None was available, so the mission was assigned instead to the
MH-53s of the 20th SOS.
Meanwhile the Iraqis moved the radars 20 miles back into
Iraq and hardened the sites. Noting this change, Colonel Comer
did not feel that his MH-53s would be able to destroy the sites
without being detected and reported to Baghdad. He discussed
it with Col Ben Orrell. Orrell suggested that Comer bring in
some Army Apache helicopters to attack the sites with Hellfire
missiles and rockets. The MH-53s could use their GPS to get
them to the correct firing positions because they were much
more accurate and reliable than the Doppler systems on the
Army helicopters.

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They took the suggestion to Colonel Johnson at SOCCENT.

He backed it and took the plan to General Schwarzkopf, who
approved the use of Apaches from the 101st Air Assault Divi-
sion and cleared them to begin training. Comer then met with
LTC Dick Cody, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 101st
Aviation Regiment, and they began planning the mission.
Meanwhile, the Iraqis shut down one of the sites. Comer and
Cody then developed a simple plan where two MH-53s would
lead a small team of Apaches to each remaining site and pro-
vide combat recovery support. The two units trained for the
mission through the fall. They also received permission to live-
fire six Hellfire missiles in the Saudi desert.81
In late October Colonel Gray personally briefed General
Schwarzkopf that the joint team was ready to execute its mis-
sion. When Gray assured him that the mission would be 100
percent successful, Schwarzkopf replied, “Okay, Colonel, then
you get to start the war.”82 The joint team held a final rehearsal
in January, and it went perfectly.

Poobah’s Party
Another approach to the problem has come to be known as
“Poobah’s Party,” so named for the man who planned it. Gen-
eral Henry, using detailed intelligence of the Iraqi air defenses
and an intense study of Israeli tactics against the Syrians, de-
veloped a plan to bloody the noses of the Iraqi gunners and
missile crews and dampen their enthusiasm for shooting down
coalition aircraft.
His plan was simple in concept but challenging in execution,
for it depended on a closely orchestrated series of events. First,
stealth F-117s and BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles
launched from US Navy ships in the Gulf would saturate tar-
gets around Baghdad and thoroughly intimidate the Iraqi de-
fenders. Some of the cruise missiles would carry special carbon
filaments that would lie down over electrical lines and short
them out causing all manner of unpredictable results.
With the enemy confused but fully alert and cocked to fight,
he would then flood the skies over Baghdad and western Iraq
with BQM-74 unmanned drone aircraft. Seeing what appeared
to be such easy targets, the Iraqi radars would go to full power

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and radiate their signals. These signals would be easy to identify

and locate. Then Henry would send in a wall of F-4G Wild Wea-
sels and F-18s loaded with specially designed antiradiation mis-
siles tuned to home in on those active radars and destroy them.
The plan would, to the limits of available resources, provide
every package of aircraft going in to attack any heavily defended
site with jamming support from EF-111s or the Navy’s EA-6Bs,
F-4Gs, or F-18s. They would attack SAM sites or radar-controlled
guns that might threaten any coalition aircraft.
Additionally, Henry was betting that when the AAA gunners
saw what happened to the SAM sites during Poobah’s Party
they would not turn on their tracking radars. This would mean
that they would be much less effective.
To take advantage of this turn of events, General Horner di-
rected his aircraft to stay above 10,000 feet. Since traditionally,
most aircraft shot down are lost to guns, this meant that fewer
aircraft would be lost.83
This was a radical departure for the Air Force. For the last 15
years, it had based its tactics upon low-level operations. Those
tactics were based on the assumption that in facing the Soviet
Union, the predominant threat would be the preponderance of
SAMs and radar-controlled guns. History suggested that the
only way to maintain any effectiveness in such an environment
was to operate at low level and use terrain masking.
Years of training, though, made some resistant to change. Sev-
eral of the fighter wing commanders requested a waiver to this
policy. They argued that they needed to operate at low altitude
because their tactics, specialized navigation/targeting equip-
ment, and weaponry were optimized for low-altitude operations.
Based on these arguments General Horner allowed exceptions to
the F-15Es, the F-111s, and British, Italian, and Saudi Torna-
does. Most pilots though could clearly understand the need for
the change and trained for the medium-altitude tactics.84
Of course fewer aircraft shot down would mean fewer res-
cues. Additionally, Army and Marine ground units stood pre-
pared to support the air operations. Some artillery units did
fire on enemy AAA and radar sites during the air campaign. At
one point the US Army VII Corps had its artillery fire an ATACMS
surface-to-surface missile to completely destroy an SA-2 mis-
sile site.85

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At the 20th SOS, Colonel Comer and his men attacked the
rescue problem from a more practical aspect. He said, “When
we looked at the air war . . . we came to the realization that
there were going to be more shoot downs than we could shake
a stick at. And we would really have liked for none of those
shoot downs to be us, so how do we do that, and how do we
execute the mission successfully and get out of there? We had
all kinds of think tank kind of sessions where we said, ‘What do
we tell the fighter guys to do if they are out there on the ground?
How do they signal us?’ ”86
At the squadron level, their concerns were more practical.
Grandiose plans were wonderful, but they had to actually fly
the missions. And missions could succeed or fail on the small-
est of details.

Proven Force
Within days of the initial deployment of US forces to the Gulf
regions, senior US commanders in Europe began conceptual-
izing a force that could open a second front against Iraq. As the
war plan against Iraq continued to mature, planning was going
on in Europe to design an aerial force that would strike Iraq
from the north. Based in Turkey, it would be multifunctional.
The concept for the plan actually originated with tactical plan-
ners in the 52d Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) at Spangdahlem
Air Base, Germany.
Throughout the fall of 1990, as the various elements of US
and coalition power came together in the Gulf, a small group of
aircrewmen designed a notional package of aircraft and sup-
port units that could quickly deploy to air bases in Turkey and
conduct sustained operations against the northern portion of
Iraq. This force would be designed to attack the same array of
targets as the forces in the south. It would also have a robust
electronic warfare capability and a special operations task force
included for combat recovery. These special operations forces
would be able to extend combat recovery coverage across the
northern half of the country.
This plan was refined and passed up the chain of command
to General Powell. He was generally supportive and had the
plan briefed to the Turkish General Staff. But the plan needed

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the approval of the Turkish government, and that was prob-

lematic because of the political realities in the region. The Turk-
ish government and its leader, Pres. Turgut Özal, supported
the United Nations and US actions and had taken several po-
litical and economic steps in parallel. But allowing combat sor-
ties to be launched against a neighbor was another matter.87
Regardless the European Command (EUCOM) progressed to
detailed planning. Since this was in support of CENTCOM, that
command was designated as the “supported” force and EU-
COM was the “supporting” force. Planners at EUCOM designed
a joint task force named Proven Force. It would be commanded
by USAF Maj Gen James Jamerson. From a CSAR perspective,
this was fortuitous because Jamerson was a career fighter pilot
and had flown a tour in Southeast Asia in A-1s. He had par-
ticipated in or led many rescue missions and understood the
mission intuitively.
By late December a formidable array of fighter, attack, and
support aircraft, equipment, and personnel had been assem-
bled at Incirlik Air Base in eastern Turkey. All aircraft remained
under the control of their parent units, but plans were pub-
lished to quickly establish a provisional wing and initiate com-
bat operations as soon as political permission was granted. In
support, a special operations sub-element made up of troops
from the 39th SOW and the 10th Special Forces Group would
assume combat recovery alert with MH-53s and support MC-
130s at Batman Air Base.88
But the implementation of the plan still needed Turkish ap-
proval. And as combat approached, it did not seem to be forth-
coming.89

Eastern Exit
Ready to perform the combat recovery mission and the open-
ing night raid, the 20th SOS was now alerted for a mission in a
totally different area. Serious internal unrest was sweeping the
nation of Somalia on the eastern coast of Africa. CENTCOM
alerted the unit to be ready to fly there on 10 January to evacu-
ate US and coalition personnel. This threw the unit into chaos
since it was now faced with the possibility of having three si-
multaneous missions in, literally, different parts of the world.

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Fortunately, the orders were changed. CENTCOM decided to

send a Marine expeditionary unit instead. Launching a rescue
force of 55 marines and Navy SEALs off of the USS Trenton,
they recovered 281 Americans and other nationals from the US
Embassy. Released from the Somalia tasking, the 20th SOS
was able to refocus on the Task Force Normandy mission and
its combat recovery alert.90

Eve of Battle
On the eve of battle, the CSAR capability of CENTCOM was
extensive. General Horner was the overall SC. Through his
JRCC he could coordinate with other components for CSAR.
The JRCC, working through the TACC, had the authority to
task any asset under the general’s control. This could be any-
thing from fighters to communications to reconnaissance, but
he had no dedicated combat recovery forces assigned, and he
could not directly task other components.
Each service or ally had unique forces or capabilities for CSAR.
Each had its own RCC and was expected to prosecute its own
recovery missions to the maximum extent possible. Situations
beyond its abilities or control had to be passed to the JRCC.
The US Army and Marines each had hundreds of helicopters
that could quickly respond. The British, French, and Saudi
forces had helicopters and other support aircraft available. The
US Air Force had none.
SOCCENT had the most capable recovery forces in the the-
ater, but it retained OPCON of its forces even though General
Horner was the SC. It had 37 Air Force, Navy, and Army heli-
copters and eight Air Force tankers plus US Army Special
Forces teams and US Navy SEAL teams. Those assets were ar-
rayed over a number of airfields from ArAr to Ras Al Mishab
and on ships in the Gulf ready to answer the call.91
Additionally, SOCCENT anticipated that if Turkey approved the
deployment and activation of the Proven Force task force, they
would have recovery assets available to support them from the
north. Surveying the overall operation from his perspective, Col
Ben Orrell at SOCCENT said, “We were pretty well prepared.”92

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Notes
1. Andrew Leyden, Gulf War Debriefing Book [hereafter GWDB] (Grants
Pass, OR: Hellgate Press, 1997), 104.
2. Williamson Murray with Wayne Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf
(Baltimore, MD: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America,
1996), 32.
3. Michael R. Rip and James M. Hasik, The Precision Revolution: GPS and the
Future of Aerial Warfare (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2002), 132.
4. GEN H. Norman Schwarzkopf with Peter Petre, It Doesn’t Take a Hero
(New York: Bantam Books, 1992), 310.
5. LTC Pete Harvell, interview by the author, 29 January 2002.
6. Leyden, GWDB, 106.
7. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 10.
8. Desert Shield/Desert Storm: Air Force Special Operations Command (AF-
SOC) in the Gulf War [hereafter AFSOC in the GW] (Hurlburt Field, FL: History
Office, Air Force Special Operations Command, 1992), 13.
9. Col Ben Orrell, 1st Special Operations Wing (SOW), 16th SOW History
Office, Hurlburt Field, FL, interview by the author, undated, [hereafter Orrell,
1st SOW interview].
10. AFSOC History Office, AFSOC in the GW, 14.
11. Maj Joseph J. Falzone, Combat Search and Rescue: CSEL Enhance-
ments for Winning Air Campaigns (Maxwell AFB, AL: Air University Press,
December 1994), 55.
12. Lt Col Larry Helgeson, interview by the author, 2 September 2002.
13. Brig Gen Dale Stovall, interview by the author, 3 September 2001.
14. Michael R. Gordon and Gen Bernard E. Trainor, The Generals’ War:
The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf (New York: Little, Brown and Co.,
1994), 250.
15. Stovall, interview.
16. Harvell, interview.
17. Stovall, interview.
18. Col George Gray, interview by the author, 3 May 2001.
19. Lt Col Richard Comer, interview by the author, 19 July 2000.
20. Tom Clancy with Gen Carl Stiner, Shadow Warriors (New York: G. P.
Putnam’s Sons, 2002), 449; and Susan L. Marquis, Unconventional Warfare
(Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1997), 238.
21. Lt Col Joe E. Tyner, AF Rescue and AFSOF: Overcoming Past Rivalries for
Combat Rescue Partnership Tomorrow, National Defense Fellows Program (Max-
well AFB, AL: Headquarters US Air Force and Air University, undated), 37.
22. Maj Mark Tucker, interview by the author, 6 June 2002. Many rescue
troops who were interviewed for this book expressed the same sense of be-
trayal. They wanted to go. The bitterness was intensified by subsequent
events in Bosnia and Serbia in the late 1990s, and these feelings still exist.
One career rescueman, Col Ken Pribyla, served as the director of operations
at Air Rescue Service after Desert Storm. He remembered that, “The frustra-
tion was great throughout Rescue as I was told numerous times that there

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were a number of options available from single units to a merging of units,

both active and reserve component, that could have provided the needed
Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) units. Conventional wisdom said that
since Rescue did not make the war, its requirements remained mostly un-
known. Additionally, special operations forces became the visible force of
choice when rescue was needed in any theater. This paradigm became the
ultimate catch-22 for ARS forces. You couldn’t get to the war/fight if you
hadn’t been to the war/fight. The pattern continued well into the decade and
created a considerable amount of confusion as to which organization was
truly the Air Force rescue force.”
E-mail from Col Ken Pribyla, USAF retired, to author, 8 September 2002.
23. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 243.
24. Gray, interview.
25. Al Santoli, Leading the Way, How Vietnam Veterans Rebuilt the U.S.
Military: An Oral History (New York: Ballantine Books, 1993), 206.
26. Harvell, interview.
27. Comer, interview.
28. Capt Tom Trask, interview by the author, 16 February 2000.
29. Perry D. Jamieson, Lucrative Targets: The U.S. Air Force in the Kuwaiti
Theater of Operations (Washington, DC: Air Force History and Museums Pro-
gram, 2001), 20.
30. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 22.
31. History of the Air Force Special Operations Command, Hurlburt Field,
FL: [hereafter History of AFSOC], 1 January 1990–31 December 1991, 37.
32. Capt Randy O’Boyle, interview by author, 20 March 2000; and History
of AFSOC, 26.
33. Brig Gen Buster C. Glosson, interview by the author, 25 September
2002.
34. Appendix 6 to Annex C to USCINCCENT OPLAN 1002-90, 18 July 1990.
35. Ibid.
36. Appendix 6 to Annex C to COMUSCENTAF OPLAN 1021-90, 30 March
1990.
37. History of AFSOC, 27.
38. Lt Col Joe Hampton, interview by the author, 12 March 2000; and
Joint Review, JCS.
39. Hampton, interview.
40. History of AFSOC, 37.
41. Comer, interview.
42. Operation Desert Shield Combat Search and Rescue Plan, USCENT-
COM/JRCC, 1 November 1990.
43. Hampton, interview.
44. Operation Desert Shield Combat Search and Rescue Plan, USCENT-
COM/JRCC, 1 November 1990; and Gray, interview.
45. Harvell, interview.
46. Capt John Steube, interview by the author, 9 January 2002.
47. CNA Desert Storm Reconstruction Report, Volume II: Strike Warfare, Oc-
tober 1991, 5–52. [hereafter CNA]
48. History of AFSOC, 374.

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49. Tyner, AF Rescue and AFSOF, 40; and Gray, interview.

50. Gray, interview.
51. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 250.
52. Gray, interview; and US Special Operations Command History, MacDill
AFB, FL, HQ USSOCOM/SOCS-HO, November 1999, 36. [hereafter SOCCOM
History]
53. History of AFSOC, 28.
54. Ibid.
55. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 251.
56. O’Boyle, interview.
57. Comer, interview.
58. Hampton, interview.
59. Harvell, interview.
60. Detachment Summary Report, Helicopter Combat Support Special
Squadron 4, (HCS-4), Desert Shield/Desert Storm, 9 December 1990–20 March
1991. Includes attached aircraft and personnel from HCS-5.
61. History of the 919th Special Operations Group, 1 January 1990–31
December 1991.
62. 3d/160th SOAR Desert Storm AAR, file 525.
63. CDR Patrick Sharrett, USN; Lt Col Joseph Wysocki and Capt Gary
Freeland, USAF; CPT Scott Netherland, US Army; and Donald Brown, “GPS
Performance: An Initial Assessment,” Fairfax, VA, September 1991. Paper
procured from the Institute of Navigation, 395.
64. Ibid., 396.
65. For a full explanation of GPS in Desert Storm, see chap. 5 of Rip and
Hasik, Precision Revolution.
66. Tom Clancy with Gen Chuck Horner, Every Man a Tiger (New York: G.
P. Putnam’s Sons, 1999), 274.
67. Ibid., 271.
68. Gulf War Air Power Survey (GWAPS) Summary Report, vol. 5 (Washing-
ton, DC: Government Printing Office, 1993), 180.
69. Ibid.
70. Trask, interview.
71. Comer, interview.
72. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 58.
73. Final Report to Congress: Conduct of the Persian Gulf War, Department
of Defense, April 1992, 120.
74. Glosson, interview.
75. Clancy with Horner, Every Man a Tiger, 559.
76. Col Ali Abdul-Lateef Khalifouh, Kuwait: Air Force, retired, Kuwaiti Re-
sistance as Revealed by Iraqi Documents, Center for Research and Studies on
Kuwait, 1994, 36.
77. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 90.
78. Ibid., 111.
79. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 70.
80. Ibid., 43.

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81. First Special Operations Wing (SOW) History, 1 January–31 December

1991, and support documents, 121.
82. Gray, interview.
83. Clancy with Horner, Every Man a Tiger, 351.
84. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 137.
85. Maj Mason Carpenter, Joint Operations in the Gulf War (Maxwell AFB,
AL: School of Advanced Airpower Studies, Air University, February 1995), 57.
86. Comer, interview.
87. Joint Task Force Proven Force, http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/
ops/proven_force.htm.
88. Clancy with Stiner, Shadow Warriors, 411.
89. Joint Task Force Proven Force.
90. First SOW History, 122.
91. General briefing, CSAR file, SOCCENT, undated.
92. Orrell, interview; and 1st SOW, interview.

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 Chapter 4

Desert Storm Week One:

17–23 January 1991

We were honor bound to do our best to rescue them if they

were shot down.
—Lt Gen Chuck Horner

You just can’t go trundling into some place in a high-threat

environment without knowing exactly where the guy is.
—Capt Randy O’Boyle

As preparations for war were proceeding, national leaders and

diplomats made last-minute efforts to forestall what appeared
to be inevitable. In Saudi Arabia events were taking place at
breakneck speed as final changes were made to the overall war
plan, and units redeployed to the best tactical locations as a
prelude to combat.
Were the aircrews ready? Many of the older pilots had flown
combat and generally knew what to expect. Among the younger
guys, though, there were the inevitable doubts.
Said young A-10 pilot Capt Lee Wyatt, “You always wonder if
you’re going to be ready for the real test. I had just reread Thud
Ridge, and I thought about those guys that flew through the hell
in North Vietnam and I wondered if I was ready to be shot at.”1
His unit was visited by Lt Col Greg Wilson, a member of the
706th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS), an Air Force Reserve
unit activated for the war. Wilson had flown as a forward air
controller in Southeast Asia and had extensive combat experi-
ence. He laid it out for the young guys. “You will have doubts,
but you are ready for it. You’re prepared, you’re trained for it,
and you’ll do what you are trained to do.”2 The pilots were
strengthened by his words.
Brig Gen Buster Glosson visited the units to fire up the air-
crews. Based on his experiences in Southeast Asia, he felt an
obligation to look each of them in the eye and tell them why

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they were fighting. He told them that the nation was behind
them. He explained to them that what they were doing was
important and talked them through the initial air campaign
plan. He cautioned them to be careful and pointed out that the
fighting could last awhile and that resources needed to be hus-
banded. He said, “There is not a . . . thing in Iraq worth you
dying for.”3
It made “the hair stand up on the back of your neck,” accord-
ing to Capt Bill Andrews of the 10th TFS at Abu Dhabi.4 Several
of the pilots recalled that General Glosson also made an ap-
pealing and specific promise. As per Saudi law, the troops had
not been allowed to have alcoholic beverages in Saudi Arabia.
Glosson promised them all that after the shooting was over, he
would revisit all the bases with a planeload of cold beer. That
cheered them up.5
The British pilots’ approach was a bit more pragmatic. One
remembered, “The brief that I’d been given was that we were
there to use our assets as efficiently as possible, without losing
aircraft or lives. I think our outlook was slightly different to how
it would have been had we been defending British territory. We
were there to do a job and we were quite happy to do it, but
none of us intended to die in the process.”6
As combat approached, some of the wing commanders
wanted to know what procedures the flyers should follow for
CSAR. Glosson had Randy O’Boyle prepare a briefing for the
units on what to expect. O’Boyle conferred with Colonel Comer
on what to say and then split the duty with Capt Corby Martin
and Capt Tim Minish. O’Boyle described what he told the flyers:
“I said, ‘This is how we are going to try to come and get you.’
And I talked all about the SEALs, their desert vehicles, and . . .
some of the things that we were going to use . . . and basically
gave them the plan which was a real rah-rah speech but, I
thought, realistic. I don’t think that I overstated it. Before I got
back, one wing commander called General Glosson and said,
‘That was . . . hot. That was what the guys needed to hear.’ ”7
One pilot, a Marine F-18 jock, recalled, “Representatives from
the Air Force MH-53 helicopter units who would do the actual
rescue work came to brief us. These folks and their equipment
were impressive. Much of the briefing was classified, but we
were comforted somewhat by the material they were putting

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out. One interesting point was made: there would be no repeats

of the rescues from the Vietnam War, where all stops were
pulled. There, all-out efforts were made without much regard
to the cost in lives or machinery, just to rescue a single pilot.
Neither the people nor the equipment could be afforded now.”8
Another Marine pilot remembered a more severe message.
His commander told their unit, “Let me tell you something.
When you get shot down, you are on your own. If you go out
with that attitude, you’re going to be okay. But when you get
out of your aircraft, it is one million BC. Expect that no one is
going to help you . . . and you’re going to be okay.”9
One unit seemed to have heard a different message. When
Glosson visited the 4th Wing at Al Kharj, one young pilot re-
membered him saying that, “If you get shot down, you [won’t]
have to spend the night. If it’s a night sortie, we’ll be in the next
day to get you, but you are not going to spend 24 hours on the
ground.”10
Glosson himself remembered saying more than once, “Don’t
worry about it. We’ll pick you up if we have to stack helicopters
on top of each other and get them all shot down. But we are not
going to leave you out there.”11
The crews were also given escape-and-evasion briefs. They
were checked out in the use of all of their survival equipment
and brought up-to-date on the theater CSAR procedures. There
were some items of concern. The terrain over which they would
be flying was, for the most part, dry and flat. There were few
places to really hide. The area was teeming with snakes, spi-
ders, and all forms of biting creatures, and the Bedouin tribes
roamed freely and randomly. They had been promised big re-
wards by Saddam if they captured any coalition personnel.
Aboard the USS Saratoga in the Red Sea Battle Group, LT
Rick Scudder was a helicopter pilot assigned to the staff of the
air wing commander. One of his many duties was CSAR coordi-
nation. He remembered the visit by Captain O’Boyle.
Randy came out to explain two new features of the air task-
ing order:
1. where to go each day to find information germane to
CSAR—the safe areas, other time-critical and perishable
information, information that was subject to change and

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what the procedures would be should there be suspected

compromise, etc.; All the “what-if” stuff.
2. the importance of SPINS [special instructions for CSAR].
O’Boyle reviewed them in detail and said, [paraphrasing]
“Every pilot on the ship has to commit this absolutely,
positively to memory because obviously you can’t take
it with you. We really don’t want you condensing it into
kneeboard cards. You just have to know this stuff. You
have to know before you go.”12
According to Scudder, O’Boyle laid it out for the flyers and was
well received. He spoke to nearly every crewmember in the wing.
He was also realistic about the chances of rescue. O’Boyle pointed
out that opportunistic missions in a medium- or high-threat
environment were very problematic and that helicopters were
very vulnerable in daylight, especially in a wide-open area like
Iraq. Scudder said of O’Boyle, “There wasn’t any blanket promise:
‘You go down, we’re inbound right away’ kind of thing.”13
One young Saratoga flyer was not impressed with the brief-
ings. LT Jeff Zaun, a bombardier/navigator in A-6s with VA-35
said, “We had plenty of CSAR briefings. The difficulty was that
there was a lot of new information. We were focused on flying
our mission. You want to be professional and make sure you
have all the CSAR stuff you need. But it’s like, somebody is
coming to town with a new project and you think—look, I have
a place to bomb and you are telling me all this stuff about
CSAR?”14 Simultaneously, a team of personnel from life sup-
port, rescue units, and the JRCC traveled to all the units in
Turkey and briefed them on CSAR procedures and SPINS pre-
paratory to their being authorized to fly against Iraq.
One pilot from the 23d Tactical Air Support Squadron, flying
the OA-10 as a forward air controller, had low expectations of
rescue. He and his cohorts would be flying over Kuwait. He said
in looking at Kuwait that, “We were on a pool table out there.
There were a couple of hundred thousand Iraqi troops. My im-
pression was that if I was ever shot down, I was going to be a
POW because there really wasn’t any way to get me out. . . .
Most guys were convinced that we were going to be grabbed im-
mediately because in A-10s we were working right there on the
border or 40–50 miles across. It was fairly densely populated

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with bad guys wherever we were working. I didn’t think that

they would have cleared a helicopter across the border just to
get a guy down there. You would just lose the helicopter too.”15
In Washington President Bush gave General Schwarzkopf
the authority to set the actual date and time for initiating the
attack, as long as it was as soon after 15 January as possible.
Since the attack would initially be by air, Schwarzkopf deferred
that decision to General Horner. Horner’s planners recom-
mended the early morning hours of 17 January because there
would be no moonlight to illuminate the F-117s, which would
be the first coalition aircraft over Baghdad.16
Finally, the TACC published the air tasking order or ATO.
This document, produced daily, provided the detailed mission
assignments for each of the flying units in each 24-hour period.
It included the SPINS for CSAR. It was transmitted to all units
and flown out to the aircraft carriers.
On 13 January US government representatives formally
briefed Turkish President Özal on Proven Force. Two days later,
after meetings with his government, he approved the deploy-
ment of the joint task force but hesitated to allow it to begin
operations. The next day US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) pub-
lished the operational order and activated the 7440th Com-
posite Wing (Provisional) as the overarching headquarters for
the deployment. Most required aircraft were in place at Incirlik
Air Base. They were quickly joined by many more from through-
out Europe. Eventually, 24 F-16s, 18 F-111Es, 22 F-15Cs, 13
F-4G Wild Weasels, six RF-4s, six EF-111s, three AWACs, and
14 KC-135 tankers parked on the ramp at Incirlik. They were
reinforced by a special operations task force which, when or-
dered, would deploy forward to the small airfield at Batman,
Turkey, with seven MC-130s and seven MH-53J Pave Low IIIs
from the 21st SOS and assume combat recovery alert.17
The task force was also supported with batteries of Patriot
antiaircraft and antimissile missiles that were brought in to
defend both Incirlik and Batman air bases. A large contingent
of air defense aircraft from several NATO countries was de-
ployed in eastern Turkey to counter any possible attack by the
Iraqi Air Force, but they were not part of Proven Force.18
In the JRCC, Colonel Hampton was notified that Proven Force
would have its own JRCC. He was confused. He had sat in on

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a meeting between SOCCENT and Proven Force representatives

and knew that any special operations actions out of Turkey
would be in support of SOCCENT. This suggested to him that
for rescue, they would set up an RCC that would then respond
to the CENTAF JRCC. Then he started receiving calls on his
secure phone requesting CSAR data, but he did not have a
good secure data communications link with them and could
not pass classified information in a timely manner. Subse-
quently, the Proven Force RCC began to work more and more
autonomously, like a JRCC. Joe Hampton and his crew scram-
bled to improve the communication links with the rescue forces
in Turkey. Given their remoteness, it was obviously going to be
a challenge to work with them if and when they got all the po-
litical approvals necessary to begin operations.19
On 16 January all SOCCENT units were notified that combat
operations against the Iraqis would commence at 0300L (local
time) on 17 January. With that, they moved several aircraft to
Al Jouf and ArAr as per the Task Force Normandy plan and the
CENTCOM CSAR plan.
On the 16th General Schwarzkopf visited the air planners in
the Black Hole to get a final update on the air plan. Horner had
Glosson and Deptula give the briefing. Methodically, they took
Schwarzkopf through the intricate and complicated flow of air-
craft. When Schwarzkopf heard that no B-52s were scheduled
to hit the Republican Guard units in Kuwait the first day, he
erupted. The general had a healthy respect for the B-52s be-
cause he had seen their devastating power in Vietnam. He de-
manded that they be refragged (rescheduled) to hit the Iraqi
units from the beginning.
Glosson was taken aback. He knew that putting the bombers
into such high-threat areas before the air defenses had been
attacked put his aircrews at great risk. He envisioned a repeat
of the B-52s shot down over Hanoi during the Christmas raids
of 1972. Perhaps uncivilly, Glosson asked Schwarzkopf, “Tell
me how many airmen you are willing to lose, and the air war
commanders could redraft [their] plan to attack the Republican
Guard in the first hours of the war.”20 Horner interceded at that
point and led the commander into his office where they dis-
cussed the issue privately. After Schwarzkopf left, Glosson as-
signed reconnaissance units to closely watch the Republican

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Guard for any unpredicted movement and left the air plan un-
changed.21
As the air war began, morale among the aircrews was high.
They were well trained and equipped and believed strongly in
the mission—a belief that extended to the support troops. One
B-52 pilot noted, “We were all pumped. We were even more
pumped as we took off and saw all our maintenance troops lin-
ing the runways cheering and waving flags.”22
The “execute” order made its way down through the units to
the men who would prosecute the war. In the Red Sea, the task
force commander, RADM George Gee, spoke to his sailors:
“Gentlemen, [President] Bush has called upon us to do our
duty, to liberate Kuwait, and that liberation is going to start
tonight. [The American people] are going to be watching you.
You need to do this well. This will be with you for the rest of
your lives. You will remember this night forever, so you want to
do the best job you possibly can because if you don’t, you will
regret it until you die.”23
Listening to the admiral, many of the pilots could feel their
throats tighten. The pilots aboard the Saratoga remembered
getting ready for their first mission. “We sanitized our flight
suits. That means that all nametags and patches were removed.
We wear our dog tags. Personal weapons are carried.”24
One day prior to combat, the Saratoga received a shipment of
the new PRC-112 survival radios. Lieutenant Scudder received
the gear for the wing. His units had deployed with PRC-90s, and
he was happy to receive the more capable radios. Quickly he
and his life support specialists read the instructions and learned
how to properly key them for the crewmembers. But there were
not enough for all. They would have to be rotated among the
men as they flew. Additionally, Scudder decided to parcel one to
each F-18 pilot and one to each crew of an A-6 or F-14.25
Briefings were hastily arranged to teach the crews how to use
the radios. Preoccupied with last-minute details of the first
strikes, several aircrewmen found it difficult to concentrate on
the new radio. Several were also concerned that the radios did
not fit well into the survival vests. One survival specialist noted,
“There’s a good chance if you eject, this thing’s not staying in
your pocket.”26

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

Lieutenant Zaun of VA-35 recalled that, “The day before [the

beginning of combat operations] they came in with the new ra-
dios. I basically said, ‘No, I am not carrying a new radio. I never
used it and don’t know how it works. I am sure I could figure it
out but I’ve got other things to do right now. So I am taking the
PRC-90.’”27
The commander of the air wing on the Saratoga, CAPT Dean
Hendrickson, also talked to his flyers. The veteran of aerial
combat in Southeast Asia said, “You are going to come back.
Then you’re going to look around . . . and one of you won’t be
here.”28 That sent a shiver through the flyers and focused them
on the stark reality of what they were about to do.
Over in the Gulf, the admiral aboard USS Midway broadcast
a message to all hands, “We have received the execute order to
strike targets in southeastern Iraq as part of what will be called
Operation Desert Storm. At this point, I do not know how long
this conflict will last. I do know that the men of the Midway will
do their utmost to defeat this enemy with dispatch. In a few
short hours, we will launch our first strike at the enemy. To the
sailors and crew, keep alert and let’s run the tightest of ships;
and to the aviators, let’s make each bomb count.”29
One young flyer who heard the announcement recalled his
feelings. “The adrenaline was flowing through our veins and
we were ready to do what we had trained so hard to do; strike
and win.”30
The first waves of the attacks would be directed against the
Iraqi air defenses. This was critical to the entire air campaign.
“The systematic destruction of Saddam’s eyes and ears was the
one precondition necessary to implement the remaining phases
of the air campaign,” noted the executive officer of another of
the Navy electronic warfare squadrons.31 He and his squadron
mates of VAQ-136 flew EA-6Bs and had the dangerous task of
suppressing the Iraqi SAMs. They understood their mission
perfectly. One young pilot, LT Sherman Baldwin, noted, “Our
squadron’s job was to ensure that every Midway aircraft that
launched came back safely. If we did our job of suppressing
Iraqi air defenses, their surface-to-air missiles would be ineffec-
tive, their fighters would not have the support of ground-based
radars, and our guys would get in and out unharmed.”32

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As the aircrews were preparing to fly the first wave of strikes,

the cruiser USS San Jacinto in the Red Sea and the destroyer
USS Paul F. Foster in the Persian Gulf began to salvo 122 Toma-
hawk cruise missiles. Targeted against radar and SAM sites,
they would lend support to the efforts being put forth to de-
crease the effectiveness of the Iraqi air defenders. Those stubby-
winged, pilotless aircraft would be the first coalition aircraft to
enter Iraqi airspace.33
For some aircrews, the war actually started early. CENTAF
decided to run a “con”—a tactical deception mission. Its pur-
pose was simple: to provide an excuse for closing the airspace
along the Saudi-Iraqi border to civilian aircraft without tipping
off the Iraqis. This was no small concern because several inter-
national jet routes between Europe and Asia ran through that
area. The coalition planners needed a way to close the airspace
for civil use so that the hundreds of fighter and attack aircraft
slated to fly through there would not have to worry about pos-
sibly colliding with civilian airliners.34
Planners scripted a radio dialogue to be played by AWACS
and several other aircraft to replicate a rescue mission for an
F-117. Obviously, the Iraqis would monitor the operation. The
planners hoped that the Iraqis would feel that the loss of such
a “special” aircraft would explain all the unusual activity. It
was to take place along the Saudi-Iraqi border northeast of
ArAr. Two helicopters from HCS-4/5 were also participating.
Unfortunately, the AWACS aircraft that was key to the opera-
tion—and whose crew knew the overall script—experienced a
mechanical problem and had to return to base. No other crew
had been briefed on the ploy, so the mission was cancelled. The
HCS–4/5 birds were reassigned to backup combat rescue duty
for the Task Force Normandy operation.35

The JRCC Log

As the overall CSAR coordinator for CENTCOM throughout
its area of operations, the JRCC kept a running log of all inci-
dents and missions. Whenever a suspect incident occurred, the
controllers would assign it an incident number (I###) so that it
could be tracked. An incident would be declared anytime there
was any indication that an aircraft was in distress anywhere in

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the designated area of responsibility. This could be anything—

an emergency beeper activation (called an emergency location
transmitter/ELT), a loss of radio communications or flight fol-
lowing with an aircraft, an aircraft disappearing from radar
contact, an aircraft squawking the emergency code, or an ac-
tual report of a downed aircraft from any source. All of the in-
cident declarations were based on one or more of these factors.
Mission numbers (M###) were applied once an effort was be-
gun to dispatch a rescue mission.

17 January
Combat operations in Operation Desert Storm commenced
on 17 January (H hour was 0000Z) and lasted until the cease-
fire at 0500Z on 28 February. The JRCC log that begins below
with Task Force Normandy provides an excellent tool for re-
viewing the CSAR events of Desert Storm. Prior to the cease-
fire, there would be a total of 89 logged incidents. Since many
were false squawks or beacon activations, they are not men-
tioned.
(Note: At the time of Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Iraq/Kuwait
local time (L) was ZULU + 3 [i.e., Greenwich Mean Time plus
three hours]. Saudi Arabia local time was ZULU + 3:30. All times
in the log extracts that follow are referenced to ZULU time.)

Task Force Normandy

The time over target (TOT) for the helicopters was 0238L or
2338Z. The time was carefully calculated so that the huge wave of
aircraft set to fly through the hole could then take maximum ad-
vantage of the chaos being caused by the first F-117 strike, cruise
missiles, and the drones being launched (Poobah’s Party).
At 0100L, the group of helicopters now called Task Force Nor-
mandy lifted off, led by the 20th SOS commander, Lt Col Rich
Comer, who flew as one of the copilots. The aircraft command-
ers were Capt Corby Martin and Capt Ben Pulsifer. The second
section was flown by Capt Michael Kingsley and Maj Robert
Leonik. Each flight of two MH-53s led four AH-64s.36 Trailing in
combat rescue support were two HH-60s from HCS-4/5, led by

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Photo courtesy of Bob Reed, HCS-4

The Apaches of Task Force Normandy were among the first manned aircraft to
enter Iraq, led by MH-53s from the 20th SOS.

their skipper, CDR Neil Kinnear, from the cancelled deception

operation, and two MH-60s from the 55th SOS.37
As the Task Force Normandy helicopters crossed into Iraq,
they observed some small arms tracers, but they were inaccu-
rate and of no consequence. Guided by their GPS units, the
crews on the Pave Lows flew to the prebriefed drop-off points,
where they threw out a bunch of green chemical sticks and
then turned south. As they departed, the Apaches slowly passed
over the chemical lights and, using prebriefed coordinates, up-
dated their Doppler navigational systems for the final 10-mile
run to their individual targets.
Slipping through the clear, dark night, they pulled into fir-
ing position exactly 90 seconds early. The gunners could see
the sites. They matched the intelligence pictures that they had
been shown. They could also see enemy troops around them.
Suddenly the lights began to go off. One of the pilots mused,
“I think they know we are here.” Thirty seconds prior, the
Apache crews turned on their ranging lasers. At exactly 0238L,
they began firing their Hellfire missiles. Twenty seconds later,
the deadly weapons began to detonate against the structures.
The generators were first, then the command bunkers, and
finally, the radar dishes themselves. The enemy soldiers died
in the melee.

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Once the Hellfires were totally expended, the helicopters flew

toward the sites and salvoed their rockets. Two thousand me-
ters from the sites, they opened up with their 30 mm chain
guns and riddled what remained of the compounds with every
bullet they had. Four minutes after it started, it was over. The
Apaches turned south, rejoined with the Pave Lows, and
headed home.38
Outbound, they sent a message to SOCCENT headquarters
reporting their complete success. “SOF targets destroyed,”
Colonel Johnson personally reported to General Schwarzkopf’s
command center.39
The combination of the Pave Lows and Apaches had worked
perfectly. One of the Pave Low pilots, Capt Mike Kingsley noted
their contribution to the operation when he said, “We were the
logical choice because we have an advanced navigational sys-
tem. We are very accurate. The Apaches do not have a sophis-
ticated navigational system. They had the confidence in us to
lead them in so that when it was time to destroy these radar
sites they were fresh and ready to go.”40
Orbiting at the border were the two HH-60s of HCS-4/5. They
had not been needed for rescue. Looking south the Navy crews
saw above them a wave of aircraft heading north at high speed.
Commander Kinnear was awestruck by the sight. There ap-
peared to be an endless stream of flashing aircraft beacons. It
was the first wave, at the right place at the right time. As they
passed over the Navy helicopter crews, they switched off their
lights and disappeared into the black night.41
The first aircraft through were not fighters or attack aircraft,
but EF-111 jammers. They would overwhelm the Iraqi radars
with electrons and blind them for the critical minutes that the
attack aircraft needed to get in and hit their targets. Leading
the first three-ship flight from the 390th Electronic Combat
Squadron was the commander, Lt Col Dennis Hardziej. Passing
the border, they dropped down to penetrate Iraq at low level.42
One of the attack pilots remembered crossing the line. In the
midst of a swirling mass of aircraft he noted, “The number of
targets on the [on board] radar increased dramatically . . . this
was a mass raid from all sides, all levels, heights, everything,
running up towards the border, aiming to cross together in a

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39° 40° 41° 42° 43° 44° 45° 46° 47° 48°
Diyarbakir
38° 38°
Batman
Lake
TURKEY Hakkari Urmia
WEEK 1
Cizre
Urfa
37°
Zakho
17-23 JAN 37°

Mosul
Irbil
I R A N
36°
SYRIA 36°

Al Kirkuk
Fatah
35° K2 35°
Al Sahra

Al Qa'im
Tikrit

Corvette 03 Hadithah
34° Balad 34°
Al Asad
Ba'qubah
Sunliner 403
H2 H1 Ar Ramadi Baghdad
Stamford 01 Slate 46 Clap 74
Al Taqaddum
Ar Rutbah
33°
Quicksand 12 I R A Q 33°
J OR DAN

H3
Karbala' Tigris
Mudaysis
Al Kut

32° Targets of 32°

TF Normandy An Nukhayb Ad Diwaniyah
Najaf

Euph
As Samawah rates
31° Ar Ar
Stroke 65 An Nasiriyah
31°
Tallil
As Salman Norwich 21 Tbird 56
Newport 15 Shaibah Al Basrah
Jalibah
Ar Rumaylah Umm
Al Bussayyah Qasr Al
Norwich 02 Faw
30°
Al Jouf Jackal 11
Caesar 44
Rafha
© Darrel Whitcomb, 2002
Al Jahra
Kuwait
City
Known radar SAM coverage, pre-D/S KUWAITWolf 01
29°
Airfields
Bergan 23
Major roads SAUDI Hafar Al
International boundaries Batin
Hostage 75
0 50 100 150 km. ARABIA Ras Al Khafji
Ras Al Mishab
28°
0 50 100 mi. 28°
42° 43° 44° 45° 46° 47° 48°

blanket push. They reached a certain point, switched off their

IFFs [identification, friend or foe] and in they went.”43
It was a perfectly clear night. The troops at ArAr watched the
show. One helicopter pilot said, “I turned back to the north and
was looking over where H2 and H3 [Iraqi airfields] were and off
to the east toward Baghdad . . . when all hell broke loose. With

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

the naked eye, you could see the tracers coming up. If you put
on your [night-vision] goggles you could really see them. There
were tracers and crap flying everywhere. We were sitting there
watching this and you could see the flashes of light everywhere.
Directly north about 60 miles, you could see a pattern of bombs
going off. A B-52 strike.”44

Poobah’s Party

The Iraqis had quite a time as they downed most of the decoys
launched by the Air Force and Navy. The drones appeared as
manned aircraft on the enemy radars and soaked up an esti-
mated nine missiles per drone or TALD (tactical air-launched de-
coy).45 The F-4Gs were right behind them, and their antiradiation
missiles destroyed dozens of radars and, undoubtedly, their
crews as well. The desired effect was achieved. Within two days
the enemy’s use of its tactical radars had dropped by 80 per-
cent.46 The enemy developed a deep respect for the F-4Gs. They
continued to fire SAMs, but their radars were not turned on.
Without radar guidance, the missiles were just bigger bullets and
much easier to evade.
Colonel Hardziej led his flight of three EF-111s to their orbit
point west of Baghdad without F-15 escorts. They had a 10-
minute window during which they had to radiate toward several
sites in the Baghdad area as waves of F-117s attacked the most
dangerous targets. Watching over them, the AWACS crews be-
gan to call warnings that “bandits” (Iraqi fighters) were airborne
and hunting for vulnerable coalition aircraft.
Finishing his mission, Hardziej turned his flight south. He
sensed a presence and saw an Iraqi fighter with a bright spot-
light planted a few feet off his right wing. He tried to take eva-
sive action. As he was approaching the Saudi border, the inter-
ceptor fired an air-to-air missile that missed and exploded in
the desert. Hardziej and his other two aircraft safely returned
to Taif. They told others about their run-in with the Iraqi bandit
and the spotlight.47
As the air campaign began to sweep across Iraq and Kuwait,
things were beginning to get busy in the JRCC. Some of the
activity was just the chaos of war. Any indication of a downed

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

aircraft though, had to be checked out. As operations began,

they did not have long to wait.

I001

This was an emergency squawk by an airborne aircraft. The

pilot was contacted by the radar controllers and confirmed that
he, his crew, and aircraft were all right. It was a non-event, but
had to go into the JRCC log.48

***

Some GPS-equipped MH-47s from the 160th Special Opera-

tions Aviation Regiment (SOAR) were launched with specialists
from the 1720th Special Tactics Group (STG) to mark the actual
location of the breech in the Iraqi radar line for the fighters.
They were to lay down special reflectors that could be identified
by the radars on the coalition aircraft. Moving along the border,
they put down 11 devices to mark the passage. Unfortunately,
several of the reflectors were dropped near Bedouin camps. Af-
ter the helicopter left the area, the natives either stole or de-
stroyed a number of them. One of the aircraft, Python 50, had
to make a second sortie to replace the pilfered deflectors on al-
ternate sites. Their mission was supposed to be completed by
early afternoon, but with the second trip, the crew did not com-
plete the mission until late evening. Then they had to quickly
return to their base at KKMC to reconfigure the aircraft for com-
bat rescue alert duties.49

I003 – Python 50/MH-47, 160th SOAR

Delayed by the problems with delivering the radar reflectors,

this aircraft was not ready for launch until 0200L. Then the
crew of CWO3 Russ Hunter, CWO2 Dan Folse, and CWO3 Don
Harward departed for their alert site at Rafha.50 They had their
unit operations officer, Capt Eric Peterson, and several Army
and Air Force enlisted troops on board. Flying northwest they
leveled off at 100 feet above the ground and flew with their
lights off. The darkness and uneven terrain made the flying
challenging.

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About 15 miles from Rafha one of the enlisted troops spotted

an SA-7 missile being fired at the aircraft by what was later
determined to be a small team of Iraqi special forces. When the
soldier called a warning on the intercom, Hunter took immedi-
ate evasive action. Two more missiles were fired. Hunter’s ma-
neuvering and deployment of flares threw off the missiles. Dis-
oriented by the light of the flares, exploding missiles, and abrupt
maneuvers, Hunter allowed the aircraft to descend. It stuck the
ground, and two of the aircraft’s landing gear were severely
damaged. Fortunately, none of the personnel on board was in-
jured. Quickly recovering control, Hunter flew directly to Rafha
and set the aircraft down on a bed of mattresses. Following
emergency repairs, the crew flew back to KKMC after sunrise
for complete repairs.51

***

Twenty minutes after Task Force Normandy destroyed the

radars, a flight of F-18s from the USS Saratoga entered Iraq. As
they crossed the border the pilots turned off their IFF and lights.
Tasked to perform SAM suppression, the F-18s were carrying
HARMs in support of a squadron of A-6s that was fragged to hit
the airfield at Al Taqaddum, 25 miles west of Baghdad. They
also had EA-6Bs and F-14s in support. All of this was coordi-
nated with a large strike force coming in from the south. Below
and ahead of them were the BQM-74 drones and TALDs
launched as part of Poobah’s Party. As they approached the
target, the enemy reaction was intense. Several SAM sites were
active. Iraqi MiG-25 interceptors launched, and the airfield was
covered with AAA.52
CDR Bob Stumpf in the strike package remembered the
scene. Seeing the glow stretching across the horizon and the
“golden BBs” streaming up from the ground, he thought, “We
didn’t really expect this, but pretty much as soon as we entered
Iraqi airspace, there were missiles and AAA.” Stumpf had flown
in the 1986 raid on Libya. He knew what ground fire looked
like. But that did not compare in lethality to this. He said to
himself, “I think I am going to die.”53

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I005 – Sunliner 403/F-18, USN

LCDR Michael Speicher of VFA-81, deployed aboard the

USS Saratoga, launched as part of this strike.54 Proceeding
through Saudi airspace, his aircraft suffered a series of elec-
trical malfunctions that degraded his ability to employ his
HARMs. His radar warning system also failed, denying him
the ability to detect enemy radars. Regardless, he pressed on
with the mission.55
En route, Iraqi MiG-25s were reported airborne and active
south of the formation near the airfield at Mudaysis. As Speich-
er’s unit turned toward the MiG-25s, several pilots reported
AAA near the airfield. A few minutes later a pilot in the strike
package spotted an explosion and reported it as an air-to-air
engagement. Two minutes later, the same pilot reported a larger
ground explosion. He had not observed an ejection. Subse-
quently, Speicher was noted as missing when he failed to an-
swer radio calls.
One of the pilots in Speicher’s unit recalled the event. “I re-
member us all saying at that time, ‘Where’s [Speicher]?’ . . . We
checked a couple of times, tried different frequencies and got
nothing. We called the AWACS to see if they had him. Nothing.
I got on the radio with the JRCC in Riyadh via AWACS and told
them we were missing an airplane.”56 The JRCC records do not
show that such a call was received.57
Returning to the ship, one of the pilots immediately went to
the intelligence center to report the loss. He stated that the ex-
plosion that he had witnessed did not appear to have been
“survivable.” Additionally, neither he nor anyone else had heard
any calls on the emergency frequencies. But the pilots had been
briefed that the Iraqis had the ability to “DF” or home in on
survival radios, and it was possible that, if Speicher were down,
he might have avoided using his radio for this reason.
As more aircrews recovered from the strike and nobody re-
ported hearing from Speicher, hopes ebbed. Unbelievably, his
loss was not immediately reported to the NRCC. Additionally,
the coordinates finally reported were wrong.58
On this first strike, two aircraft were reported down. The
second one was logged as incident I006 and was supposedly
an A-6. It took several hours of hard work by the SAR control-

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lers to realize that the two reported incidents were, in fact, the
same aircraft.59

***

Numerous crews had close calls. A flight of six F-111Fs was

fragged to attack the Ali Al Salem Airfield in Kuwait. As they
approached, they could see a wall of tracers surrounding the
field. Heeding Glosson’s words that “there’s not a . . . thing in
Iraq worth you dying for,” three crews aborted and went to safer
secondary targets. One crew who continued the attack had
about all they could handle. As the pilot and WSO (weapons
system officer) set up to drop their laser-guided bombs on the
airfield, they were targeted by a dangerous SA-6 battery. Their
bombs had just hit the target when the battery launched a mis-
sile at them. They took evasive action by diving to the deck. The
missile passed overhead. The terrain-following radar on their
F-111 had failed and they had no idea what their altitude was.
Flying by instinct, the crew was beginning to believe that they
were safe when an SA-3 missile battery locked onto them and
fired. Again, they took evasive action and the missile streaked
overhead. This made them feel invulnerable until they remem-
bered that this was the first day of the war, and there were
undoubtedly many more missions to come.60
Two more waves of F-117s and cruise missiles hit key targets
before sunrise, and as the sun was coming up, several B-52s
entered Saudi airspace. The aircraft had flown nonstop from
Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. Entering preselected orbits, they
began to launch conventional air-launched cruise missiles
(CALCM). These unmanned miniature airplanes, each costing
$380,000, scattered in all directions and destroyed six commu-
nications sites and electrical power plants across Iraq. It was
their first use in combat. Completing the drop, the aircraft
turned west and returned to home base. It was a 35-hour
round-trip.61
The first night had gone well. LCDR Speicher was the only
loss, reportedly at the hands of an Iraqi interceptor. He would
turn out to be the only loss to an enemy aircraft in the war.62
Back at the SOCCENT operations center, Colonel Gray was
elated. He had rejected Captain O’Boyle’s “laager” idea to have

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helicopters and crews actually prepositioned in Iraq and still

felt that, given the threat posed by the heat-seeking missiles, it
was just too risky for the crews. He had agreed, though, to
launching helicopters and having them orbit along the border
while strike packages were in Iraq. They did not get a call on
Sunliner 403. The predictions of heavy losses the first night
had not been borne out.63
General Horner was also pleased. That morning, he started a
ritual that would see him through the war. Each day when he
came into the TACC, his first stop would be the JRCC corner of
the center. He did this for several reasons:
1. He wanted to know what the losses were and what CSAR
missions were laid on or how they were progressing.
2. He wanted to be reminded daily in the starkest of terms
that war was about killing and that all of this was costing
the lives of some of his men.
3. He wanted to keep faith with his aircrews because he
knew how important the expectation of rescue was to the
aircrews.
4. He wanted to know what was working and what was not
so that he could stay ahead of the enemy in his targeting
and overall strategy.64
Unaware of the mix-up over Speicher, Horner passed the re-
sults of the first strike to General Schwarzkopf. Being cautious,
Horner had told him to expect up to 20 percent casualties. In-
stead, he called to report, “all aircraft back.” Schwarzkopf
thanked him.65
Out at the rescue alert sites, the rescue crews were perplexed.
Cocked and ready to go, they were amazed that they were not
being scrambled. Throughout the night several of them made
radio checks with the SOCCENT command center to ensure
that their radios were working properly. They were expecting
the sky to “rain parachutes,” as so many had predicted. As they
watched the aircraft coming and going from Iraq, they were re-
lieved that their services were not needed.66
A few hours later at a press conference in Washington, Sec-
retary of Defense Cheney stated that only one aircraft had been
downed on the first night and it involved a single casualty.

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

A reporter pressed him whether the casualty had been a wound-

ing or death. Briefed on the incident by RADM Jeremy Boorda,
the chief of naval personnel, Cheney replied, “A death.”67
During the day, B-52s and Tornadoes pounded airfields in
southern Iraq. The Tornadoes—flown by Great Britain, Saudi
Arabia, and Italy—had a dangerous mission. They carried the
JP.233, a dispenser munition specifically adapted for airfield
attack. Each dispenser carried a number of shaped charges
that deployed on parachutes. As they floated to the ground, a
rocket charge would propel them into the runway. A delay fuse
caused them to explode below the runway and heave up the
concrete. This damage was time-consuming to repair.68
For proper employment, the weapons had to be released right
over the airfield at 200 feet during straight-and-level flight. So
far several attacks had been made, and no aircraft had been
damaged, but the enemy reaction had been violent. One British
pilot said, “I commented to my backseater on the heavy AAA in
the two o’clock when we turned at point J where we changed
from parallel track to twenty, second trail, and since Jane’s All
The World’s Fireworks Displays was now in the twelve o’clock,
it became apparent to both of us that the AAA was, in fact, com-
ing from our target . . . deep joy!”69 Their first loss would come
soon enough.

I008 – Norwich 02/Tornado, RAF

The crew of Flt Lt John Peters and Flt Lt John Nichol was
part of a four-ship flight attacking the Ar Rumaylah Airfield in
southern Iraq.70 It had been scheduled to hit this target during
darkness, but a three-hour delay pushed them into daytime.
During the intelligence briefing they were told that the airfield
was lightly defended. In fact it was surrounded by 170 enemy
AAA guns of various calibers and an unknown number of heat-
seeking-missile sites. Carrying eight 1,000-pound bombs, they
planned to make a loft attack from about 100 feet above the
ground while doing 540 knots.
As they approached their pull-up point 25 miles from the
target, they began to see enemy fire. The planned pull-up point
would have given their bombs a full spread as they then fell on
the airfield. The fuses were set to explode the bombs above the

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ground for maximum effect against the enemy guns. As they

pulled up in their attack, though, their weapon release com-
puter failed and did not release their bombs. They turned away
from their target and jettisoned their ordnance. In the turn, the
aircraft was struck by a suspected SA-16 heat-seeking missile.
It hit the right tailpipe and destroyed that engine. Flames en-
gulfed the right side of the aircraft. Flt Lt John Nichol called on
the radio that they were on fire. The AWACS aircraft in that
area monitored that call. Nichol then radioed that they were
ejecting, but nobody heard that call.
Simultaneously, both men pulled their ejection handles. They
landed close together and rapidly joined. Lieutenant Nichol
took out his survival radio and made several radio calls; none
was acknowledged. Their beacon was detected, but without
voice contact, rescue forces were not dispatched.
There was no place to hide on the flat desert. They walked
away from the crash site for close to an hour before about 30
enemy troops surrounded them and took them prisoner.71
Not long afterwards, Horner called General Schwarzkopf to
update him on the air campaign. He told him of the loss of the
Tornado and the earlier loss of Speicher. Schwarzkopf re-
marked, “My God, that is an order of magnitude better than
what we expected.”72
A-10s were also active, hitting remaining radar sites along
the border. Other coalition forces were hitting targets in Ku-
wait. The French Jaguar units had received notification from
their government just 15 hours before the start of the war that
France would participate in the campaign. Hastily, they were
given intelligence data so that they could participate in the first
attack on Al Jaber Airfield in Kuwait. Trained in low-level tac-
tics, they refused to coordinate with the American units hitting
the field. Instead they went in at 100 feet and attacked just as
preceding American flights were finishing. Every French air-
craft was hit by ground fire, and one pilot was wounded.73

I009/M001 – Jupiter 01/Jaguar, FAF

The eastern sector AWACS detected an emergency radar
squawk and a voice report of a bailout.74 They reported it to the
JRCC who requested the Marine RCC to launch two CH-46s.

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Subsequently, AWACS determined that the aircraft involved

were two French Air Force Jaguars, one of which had been hit
by an SA-7 heat-seeking missile. They were okay and had
landed at Al Ahsa Air Base, Saudi Arabia. The rescue effort was
terminated.75 All coalition air forces were now involved in of-
fensive operations.

I010 – Bergan 23/A-4, Kuwaiti Air Force

A flight of four Kuwaiti aircraft attacked targets in Kuwait.76
One aircraft was struck by AAA. The pilot ejected and was re-
covered by Kuwaiti resistance fighters. He remained with them
and participated in several clandestine operations until they
were all captured a few weeks later.

Proven Force
That afternoon the government of Turkey finally gave ap-
proval for the Proven Force task force to begin operations. As
the crews scrambled to prepare for their missions, they were
inundated with last-minute information. A team of survival in-
structors and pararescuemen quickly visited the units and
gave updated briefings on CSAR techniques and procedures as
the crews tried to absorb all of the detailed information neces-
sary for the missions that they would fly that night.
The Proven Force combat rescue assets were also directed to
deploy forward and prepare for CSAR operations. The MH-53s
and MC-130s departed from Incirlik and flew to Batman. There
they discovered that their first duty would be to literally set up
their tents. Working quickly, they built a rudimentary com-
mand post. It only had one phone line, but they were able to
establish SATCOM communications with SOCCENT. The crews
then assumed combat recovery alert in support of SOCCENT
and so notified them.77
With the forces now available in Turkey, Col George Gray felt
comfortable that the coalition had a sufficient rescue capability
throughout the area. He decided to split Iraq into two sections for
rescue purposes. His forces in Saudi Arabia would handle com-
bat recoveries up to 33°30' north latitude. Above that line the
combat recovery forces with Proven Force would get the call.78

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Photo courtesy of Steve Otto

One of the MH-53 pilots assigned to Proven Force, Capt Steve Otto, was in-
volved in the rescue attempt of Corvette 03.

It was not quite that simple, though. Batman did not have
secure access to the intelligence sources back at Incirlik. The
crews had brought some data on the Iraqi threats with them.
They quickly began planning possible operations into the north-
ern sector. One of the MH-53 pilots, Capt Steve Otto, was in-
volved in the process and recalls:
We figured out early on that the threats and the terrain of northern Iraq
were much different than southern Iraq. Down south, we anticipated
that we would be able to drive around the Iraqi threats, to use our refuel-
ing and range capability, if not to defeat detection, then certainly to de-
feat the threat systems. Up north we realized that we were not going to
have that luxury, that there were only 13 mountain valleys that went
from Turkey into Iraq. The threats were pretty robust up there, and we
were going to have to fly at night. . . . We knew from the threat that there
was a great concentration of Iraqi threats, a lot of ground divisions, AAA,
and SAMs down in the tri-border area where Iraq, Turkey, and Syria
meet. We knew that because of threat considerations, we would have to
fly far east if we were going to fly through Iraq.79

Regardless, the men at Batman were now ready. But as an-

other of the MH-53 pilots, Capt Grant Harden, recalled, they
intended to make their flights into Iraq at night for obvious tac-
tical reasons.80

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That afternoon a strike force of 32 F-16s hit the Al Taqaddum

Airfield and a nearby petroleum refinery. They were supported
by 15 F-15s, eight F-4Gs, and four EF-111s. This was followed
by massive B-52 strikes on Republican Guard divisions in Ku-
wait. As darkness set in, F-117s attacked air defense sites in
western Iraq. Unfortunately, bad weather had moved in, and
several targets were not damaged at all.
Starting at 2200L, a series of raids hit targets in the Basra area
just north of Kuwait. The strikes were heavily supported with
jamming and SAM suppression. There were still some losses.

I011 – Norwich 21/Tornado, RAF

This was a strike by four Tornadoes against the Shaibah Air-
field in southern Iraq using the JP.233 cluster weapon specifi-
cally designed to destroy runways.81 The crew of Wg Cdr Nigel
Elsdon and Flt Lt Robert Colier had apparently made a success-
ful run on the airfield but was engaged by a SAM site upon
egressing the target. Another crew in the flight observed an ex-
plosion and asked its controller on AWACS how many radar
returns he was tracking. The controller replied that he had only
three. No contact was ever made with the crew, and intelligence
later determined that both men had been killed. Elsdon was the
most senior coalition officer killed in the air campaign.82
It was becoming rapidly obvious to the operations planners
that southern Iraq was a dangerous place. Regardless, the tar-
gets had to be hit.

I012 – T-Bird 56/F-15E, USAF

A flight of six F-15Es attacked another airfield west of Basra
in southern Iraq.83 Each aircraft made a run over the target in
sequence. The number three aircraft (T-Bird 53) had to abort
his run-in because of heavy enemy AAA. Coming around for
another attack, the pilot made a radio call to inform the crew of
the sixth aircraft that they would not be the last ones off the
target. Lining up for his attack the pilot heard the crew of T-Bird
56 call that they were clear of the target. As the pilot of T-Bird
53 pressed his attack, he observed a large explosion. No Mayday
call was heard. On egress from the target, T-Bird 56 did not
check in. This was reported to AWACS with a general location of

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where the explosion occurred. AWACS notified the JRCC. With

no indication that the crew was alive, no rescue effort was
mounted, but the JRCC directed search operations in the area
for several days. Contact was never made with the crew of Maj
Tom Koritz and Maj Donnie Holland. In fact they had been
killed in the engagement. Koritz was dual-rated as a pilot and
flight surgeon.84
Strikes were also being flown in western Iraq, primarily by
US Navy units in the Red Sea. Most were large packages that
included aircraft for MiG protection, general antiradar jam-
ming, and SAM suppression. They would precede the attack
aircraft, which would then deliver bombs against the actual
targets. This tactic was not always completely successful.

I013 – Quicksand 12/two A-6s, USN

These two aircraft from VA-35 launched from the USS Sara-
toga and were part of a large strike package hitting the heavily
defended H-3 airfield in western Iraq.85 Leading the force were
F-14s for air-to-air protection and F-18s and EA-6Bs to attack
and suppress SA-2, SA-3, and SA-6 missile sites in the area.
The A-6s made low-level attacks at 400 feet from different
attack axes. One of the aircraft, crewed by LT Rob Wetzel and
LT Jeff Zaun, set up to deliver a load of Mk-20 “Rockeye” on the
POL (petroleum, oils, and lubricants) storage facilities near the
airfield. The Iraqis had been alerted and flooded the skies over
the airfield with parachute flares, creating a bizarre and disori-
enting scene. The pilot, Wetzel, described the run-in: “We turned
at the IP [initial point] 30 miles away at 450 knots, flying at 500
feet. It was almost a daytime scenario. SAMs flew around the
strike force. There was heavy AAA. I saw a missile go off in front
of us. I saw a missile to the right at two o’clock, turned into it
and dropped chaff. We were hit.”
The aircraft was hit by either an SA-6 or Roland missile and
crashed north of the airfield. Wetzel continued, “The back of
the airplane was on fire. We ejected through the canopy at 500
feet and 400 to 500 knots. Our helmets were ripped off. We had
flail injuries.”86

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To Zaun it was all just a blur. Neither he nor his pilot was
able to make an emergency radio call before the aircraft began
to come apart. He said that,
[The missile] threw us to one side. Made a loud sound. It hit my side. The
right engine ate itself. I looked to see how high we were. There was a lot
. . . going on. When I punched, I was sure it was the right thing to do. I
remember looking at the altimeter. I could not figure it out. So I ejected
just as they taught us. . . . I do not remember being in my parachute. I
remember being in the sand and going “Whoa, . . . . It’s war and I am in
the desert.” . . . I actually did calm myself down. I got up and patted
myself down for injuries. The first thing I looked for was my radio. I had
lost it in the ejection. That was a bad thing. That demoralized me as
much as anything else. . . . I carried my parachute for some time be-
cause I thought the radio was in it. I heard my pilot calling me. He was
hurt. He took off his LPA [survival vest] and did not have a radio either.
I asked him where it was. . . . He was hurt, and in taking off his LPA had
lost it [PRC-112 radio]. I was not happy. . . . I did not have a radio and
could not tell anybody I was alive.87

Lieutenant Wetzel had a badly wounded shoulder. Realizing

that there were enemy troops in the area, the two men started
to evade to the west, away from the airfield. Zaun intended to
find an open area and lay out some kind of signal that could
hopefully be picked up by imagery intelligence.88
A USAF AWACS was in the area but did not establish any
contact with the crew. After a short period of time, estimated to
be no more than an hour, they were found and captured by a
team of Iraqi soldiers who took them to the dispensary on the
airfield.89 Saudi intelligence subsequently reported that the
crew had been captured.
The second A-6 was also heavily damaged. It managed to divert
to Al Jouf Airfield in western Saudi Arabia. There, analysts deter-
mined that it had, in fact, been hit by a Roland missile. The crew
was safe and uninjured, but the aircraft never flew again.90
This night had not gone as well as the first. Three aircraft
were lost to either SAMs or AAA. All three crews had been killed
or captured. Thirteen other aircraft had been damaged but
managed to return to friendly control.

18 January
In place and operational, the aircrews of Proven Force, in Tur-
key, entered the campaign with strikes against strategic sites in

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the north. There were still some diplomatic problems, and one
package of F-15s was not granted border-crossing authority by
Turkish air traffic control. Of the aircraft that did reach their
targets, one of the F-111Es was damaged by AAA.91
In the south, air strikes continued at the previous day’s pace.
Coalition aircraft attacked Iraqi forces in Kuwait and reattacked
airfields that showed signs of activity.

I015 – Caesar 44/Tornado, Italian Air Force

Eight Italian Tornadoes took off to attack another airfield in
southern Iraq.92 The flight had problems with refueling, and
only one aircraft was able to get gas. That crew pressed on to
the target. During their bomb run they were shot down and im-
mediately captured. One of the crewmembers literally landed
next to a truck full of Iraqi troops. There was no beacon or voice
transmission, and no parachutes were spotted. Upon notifica-
tion, the JRCC scrambled to collect what little information it
could through the liaison channels to the Italian Air Force. Since
the loss was deep in enemy territory, the mission was passed to
SOCCENT. Colonel Gray looked at it and immediately realized
that the area was extremely well defended. He did not plan a
rescue operation. When their POW status was confirmed, no
further search efforts were made.93

***

During the day, the war took a curious turn. Unable to staunch
the onslaught coming at his country, Saddam ordered his forces
to launch Scud missiles at Israel. US satellites immediately
picked up the launches, and this data was shared with the Is-
raeli government. Fearing that the Iraqis would buttress this
attack with an air strike, the Israelis began preparing to launch
their F-16s. Only direct intervention from President Bush kept
the Israeli aircraft on the ground.
That day, seven missiles landed in Israel. They did relatively
little damage, but the political impact was considerable. Gen-
eral Schwarzkopf started getting calls from Washington to do
something to stop the Scuds. In fact F-15Es and several pack-
ages of naval aircraft had already hit the launch sites in west-
ern Iraq. It was now becoming clear, though, that perhaps

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more—much more—would have to be done about the missiles.94

The strategic air campaign plan, so skillfully crafted and molded,
was not surviving contact with the enemy.
Coalition aircraft had also begun bombing Iraqi units in Ku-
wait. The US Marines launched OV-10 forward air controller
aircraft to look for targets. The Iraqi gunners spotted them and
waited for their chance to act.

I016/M002 – Hostage 75/OV-10, USMC

Lt Col Cliff Acree, squadron commander of Marine Observa-
tion Squadron Two (VMO-2), and CW04 Guy Hunter were shot
down 14 miles northeast of Mishab, Kuwait, while searching
for targets.95 They were flying at 8,000 feet and looking for Iraqi
artillery and FROG (free rocket over ground) sites when their
aircraft was hit by a heat-seeking missile. The pilot noticed the
missile just as it hit the exhaust stack on the right engine. The
explosion destroyed the engine and ripped the wing from the
fuselage. He quickly made a Mayday call; then the aircraft be-
gan to come apart, and both men successfully ejected. Descend-
ing, the pilot could see that they were floating down right over
Iraqi ground units. Landing, he ran to his backseater who was
slightly wounded. Acree had to make a decision as to what to
do.96 He described his thoughts,
We’d been trained to escape and evade if downed in enemy territory. But
our chances of evasion were slim to none. We couldn’t have picked a
worse spot to land if we’d tried—we were in the heart of an Iraqi division
that had taken a serious pounding by Allied forces the previous day, and
were within a mile of the artillery batteries we’d been trying to trash ten
minutes before. The area we’d landed in was so heavily fortified that you
could run half a mile in any direction and bump into somebody or some-
thing. . . . Our only hope was to get picked up by a search-and-rescue
([C]SAR) helicopter. We pulled our small survival radios from our torso
harnesses. Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! We tried to get anybody to re-
spond. No response, only static. The Iraqis would soon arrive—time was
running out. I scanned the sky. A Huey helicopter with two Cobra es-
corts would be a gift from heaven right now.97

Instead of friendly helicopters, Acree saw enemy vehicles and

troops closing in on them. Within minutes they were sur-
rounded. Acree kept calling on his radio, “Downed aircraft. . . .
Acree and Hunter are alive and on Kuwaiti soil.” The soldiers
slowly closed in around them. Acree considered trying to run,

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but with a wounded comrade, he realized that it would be futile.

The reality of the situation was starkly clear. “There’s a time
when you have to call it quits. Staring down the barrels of those
AK-47s, I knew this was it.”98 The men surrendered and became
POWs. They had been on the ground less than 10 minutes.
Other Iraqi forces swarmed into the area and began setting up
defensive positions to fight off any rescue forces.
When notified, the JRCC tasked the mission to the NRCC on
the USS Blue Ridge. The NRCC launched helicopters from the
USS Leftwich to execute a search, even though neither an emer-
gency beacon nor a radio call from the crew had been heard.99
The search was joined by an MH-3 from the 71st SOS, a RSAF
helicopter, two Saudi patrol boats, and three Saudi fast boats.
Later that night a US Navy P-3, a Royal Navy Nimrod, and a US
Navy E-2 continued to search. With no positive results, the
search was abandoned the next day.100
Losing its leader was a terrible blow to VMO-2.101 OV-10s
flown by forward air controllers had the job of directly coordi-
nating with the ground forces and were not supposed to ven-
ture north of the Saudi-Kuwait border unless it was an emer-
gency situation. What constituted an “emergency” was not
clear. The downing of Hostage 75 tragically illuminated the rea-
son for that restriction and made the loss difficult to justify.102

I019 – Iguana 70/MH-3, USAF

An MH-3 from the 71st SOS had an in-flight emergency but
was able to recover at a friendly field. It had been performing a
SOCCENT mission.103

I020 – Jackal 11/A-6, USN

In an effort to bottle up Iraqi naval units in the northern Gulf
area, a large force of aircraft from Battle Force Zulu launched
to drop aerial-delivered mines.104 This was the first such opera-
tion since the Vietnam War. Four A-6s from VA-155 on the USS
Ranger, with support from 14 other aircraft, made a low-level
drop of 42 MK 36 destructor mines at the mouth of the Az
Zubayr River. Jackal 11 was fragged, as the second of four A-6s,
to make a low-level attack to deliver mines against the Umm
Qasr Naval Base just north of Bubiyan Island on the Kuwait-

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Iraq border. En route weather was poor, with low clouds and
low visibility. Other aircraft in the formation observed AAA but
no SAMs. Jackal 11 was observed maneuvering off of the in-
gress path when it went down. There was no emergency call
from the crew. A few minutes later an orbiting RC-135 Rivet
Joint aircraft reported an emergency beacon in the vicinity of
Bubiyan. A US Navy E-2 Hawkeye also in the area reported
voice contact on one of the emergency frequencies. The voice
was accented and believed to be an attempt to lure rescue
forces into a trap.105
While all of that was being sorted out, other aircraft from the
Ranger formed an ad hoc task force and rendezvoused with a
Navy helicopter for an immediate pickup attempt. Several F-14s
and A-6s took up an escort formation over the helicopter as it
approached the coast. The swarm of aircraft was greeted with
heavy AAA fire, and somebody in the formation called, “Abort,
Abort!” The helicopter did a 180-degree turn, and all of the air-
craft went back out over the water. One of the A-6 pilots was
befuddled at the whole maneuver and later wrote,
We were all left wondering what . . . had happened. Had a survivor actu-
ally been authenticated via radio call sign, and if so, did we have a good
geographic cut on where he was? Without a clear picture of the survi-
vor’s location, it was suicide to wander low over the open skies of Iraq
looking for him and dueling with every AAA site along the Gulf. Back in the
debrief, the intel[igence] guys were not much help in filling in the blanks.
It seemed that no one could say with certainty whether or not a survivor
had been authenticated as legitimate, yet we had been prepared to risk
five aircraft on a rescue mission to a phantom man on the ground.106

SOCCENT also initiated mission planning, but with no valid

voice contact or position, and considering the enemy threat in
the area, no follow-on rescue effort was launched. Search op-
erations continued in the area for several days. Subsequently,
intelligence sources determined that the crew of LT William
Costen and LT Charles Turner had been killed.107
Intelligence studied the intrusion and determined that en-
emy forces had gotten to the wreckage and were trying to lure
rescue forces into the area to shoot them down. Planners at
CENTCOM decided to develop a plan to set up a fake CSAR and
lure some Iraqis themselves into a trap. Such a plan had to be
vetted through the CENTCOM staff. The plan sounded feasible,
but the staff lawyers objected because they felt that it violated

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the international principle that emergency signals should not

be used for tactical purposes. The operation was never run.108
Studying the results of this strike, Navy intelligence deter-
mined that the Iraqi navy was already bottled up because of
mines that it had laid itself. After realizing how dense enemy
air defenses were in the area, VADM Stanley Arthur, com-
mander US Naval Forces Central Command, decided to cancel
any further mine-laying flights.109
Admiral Arthur also had his staff look at the efficacy of low-
level operations overall in the first two days of attacks. The two
A-6s shot down had been lost on low-level attacks. Addressing
this and the losses of the Tornadoes and the F-15E—all on low-
level operations—he stated to his commanders:
Gentlemen, far be it from me to dictate specific combat tactics. But I
must inject my early observations relative to the age-old argument of low-
altitude delivery versus high. With a quick look at what has happened to
the multinational forces to date, one cannot escape the fact that current
AAA environment makes the low-level delivery a non-starter. I want you
to take a hard look at how your air wings are handling the issue. We
learned a hard lesson in Vietnam relative to AAA and then later many
told us we learned it wrong—I think not. There is a place and time for
low-altitude delivery and it usually involves surprise. We can no longer
count on surprise. That went away shortly after [midnight on D-day].110

The air wing commanders from the carriers directed their air-
crews to switch to medium-altitude operations. This had a dra-
matic impact on mission effectiveness because the crews had not
trained to deliver ordnance from higher altitudes. Additionally, the
carriers only had limited numbers of laser-guided bombs, which
were the most effective weapons for medium-altitude operations.
What laser-guided bombs were available were to be carried by the
A-6s. The Navy had not brought any Maverick guided missiles
that could also be effectively used at the higher altitudes. Conse-
quently, the only ordnance available for the F/A-18s were the old
Vietnam-era “dumb” bombs that were much less accurate when
dropped from higher altitudes.111

I021 – Falstaff 66/F-4G, reported as a lost

communications, USAF
The Iraqi gunners were not the only threat to the coalition
aircraft. In the winter the Persian Gulf nations are occasionally
covered with dense fog. The cover can be so thick that the pilots

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cannot see the runways. This was another worry for the aircrews.
In actuality this aircraft and crew from the 52d TFW crashed due
to fuel starvation.112 The crew had tried to land at several airfields
that were below landing minimums because of dense fog. The
crewmen ejected safely and were recovered by base personnel. A
subsequent investigation determined that enemy fire had rup-
tured a fuel tank on the aircraft, causing the fuel starvation. The
aircraft was subsequently listed as a combat loss.113

***

Taking a note from the Navy, Air Force planners did a quick
analysis to determine the validity of flying at higher altitudes.
Intelligence data indicated that the combination of jamming,
suppression, precision strikes on command centers, and con-
stant attacks on the Iraqi Air Force had dramatically reduced
the threat above 10,000 feet,114 and sufficient stocks of laser-
guided bombs and Maverick missiles were available to ensure
target destruction.
General Horner left it up to the individual wing commanders
to decide what tactics to use. The B-52s, after having some of
their aircraft damaged by enemy AAA and SAMs, were ordered
by their commander to change to high-level tactics. The Tor-
nado units refused to change. They had to make low-level at-
tacks to deliver the JP.233 weapon most effectively against
runways.115 Overall, the campaign seemed to be going well.
Aboard the Saratoga, Lieutenant Scudder was growing con-
cerned about the PRC-112 radios. When the shipment had ar-
rived, he had noted several corroded batteries and had not re-
ceived many spare batteries. Now some of the crewmembers were
reporting that the radios had a tendency to slip out of the modi-
fied pouches on their survival vests. Some pilots had noted that
the radio was too easy to turn on. That and the constant testing
and re-keying with personal codes was wearing out the batteries.
Several pilots asked for extra batteries. None were available.116

19 January
Weather became a major factor on day three of the campaign.
Overnight several F-117 strikes could not hit their targets be-

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cause of clouds. During the day numerous large packages of

aircraft were scheduled to hit key targets in the Baghdad area
and around Basra, but the air tasking system was experiencing
growing pains and could not stay up with the constant changes
being forced by weather, mechanical delays, and enemy reac-
tions. In the morning, one large package of B-52s and F-15Es
hit two Republican Guard divisions in the Kuwaiti theater of
operations (KTO). In studying the results of the B-52 strikes,
the intelligence specialists were beginning to pick up a trend.
In several instances the B-52 strikes were 400–600 feet short
of their aim points. Prior to the war the B-52s had been given
an upgraded inertial navigation system (INS) for all-weather
delivery and, theoretically at least, their bombing accuracy
should have been higher. The analysts were puzzled until one
discovered the problem. The targeting cell in the TACC had
passed target coordinates based on the GPS WGS84 datum,
but the aircraft INS had been initialized on the ramp at Diego
Garcia, where the coordinates given to the crews had been
based on the WGS72 datum. The difference between the two
exactly matched the miss distances for the bombs, and the er-
ror was quickly corrected.117
In midday a large Navy package hit petroleum sites west of
Baghdad. A force of 40 F-16s with a large support package of
EF-111s and F-4Gs was scheduled behind them and directed
against the military intelligence headquarters in the outskirts
of the capital. That package was diverted to the west to strike
Scud sites near the H-3 airfield as part of the reaction to that
threat.118

Package Q
Another force of 72 F-16s from the 388th TFW and 401st
TFW was fragged to hit a nuclear research facility southeast of
Baghdad. Overnight the target was changed to a series of three
Iraqi government ministry buildings. All were large targets that
needed to be hit by many bombs. They were widely scattered,
and the attack was organized so that they were struck sequen-
tially starting with the one farthest from the heart of the city
and working inwards.

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In planning the missions, some of the unit commanders com-

pared these to the mass raids against heavily defended Hanoi
in the war in Southeast Asia. The raw numbers of SAM sites
and AAA guns were alarming, but the Baghdad area defenses
had been so heavily pummeled in the last two days that an air
of cockiness was working its way through some of the units
and fighter crews.119
The geographical arrangement of the new targets meant that
the enemy defenses would be fully alerted as the strikes pro-
gressed. Perhaps more critical, the mission change had not
reached the crews until they were almost ready to go, so the
flight leads could not make any fundamental changes to their
tactical plan prior to launch.
To some, the last-minute changes introduced a healthy dose
of risk to the mission. The package included several F-4Gs for
SAM suppression. That heartened the strike pilots because
they knew how effective the Weasels were in suppressing the
sites with their HARMs. Because of the distance to the target,
each F-4G carried only two HARMs instead of the usual four,
reducing their capability by half. The flight leads were unaware
of this critical fact.
Once airborne all aircraft had to be in-flight refueled. Here,
too, there were problems. There was rough weather in the re-
fueling track. Some of the tankers had to throttle back because
of winds so that they could refuel all the aircraft prior to the
end point of the track. Things got so fouled up that some flights
were unable to refuel and had to return home with their bombs.
Those that were able to refuel pressed on north and broke out
into open skies over Iraq.

I023/M003 – Stroke 65/F-16, USAF

Maj Jeff Tice of the 614th TFS was leading a flight of four
F-16s in the last wave of this 72-plane attack force sent to hit
targets in the Baghdad area.120 The flight was preceded by eight
F-15s for air superiority and eight F-4G Wild Weasels for SAM
suppression.
Weather caused delays en route, and by the time the F-16s
were approaching their targets, the F-4Gs had already fired all
of their SAM-suppression missiles and were departing the area.

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Photo courtesy of Paul Harmon

Crewmembers on the Stroke 65 recovery attempt, shown here on 22 January

1991, include: back row, left to right, Sgt Rob Turner, Capt Paul Harmon, Capt
Ken Sipperly, Sgt Jeff Mucha, SSgt Mike Hulin, and TSgt Troy Arce and, front
row, left to right, Sgt Ismael Gonzalez and SRA Martin Brown.

As the Weasels were leaving, numerous SAM sites went active

and began to track the aircraft. The flights began to maneuver
individually in self-defense. Various missile batteries began to
fire at individual aircraft, and each pilot maneuvered to avoid
the deadly weapons, causing the flights to become badly scat-
tered. Major Tice was fired on by an SA-3 missile battery. See-
ing the missile, he maneuvered to evade it. The missile shot by
and detonated. Unfortunately, Tice’s aircraft was within the
lethal range of the warhead and was fatally damaged. Quickly
scanning his aircraft, he could see fuel, oil, and hydraulic fluid
seeping from numerous holes.
As Tice turned his aircraft to head south, warning lights were
flashing in his cockpit, and flight instruments were beginning to
fail. His wingman, Capt Bruce Cox, joined on his wing to escort
him out of the area just as AWACS called and informed them
that Iraqi MiG-29s were approaching from the north. Cox did a
hard right turn and picked up the enemy aircraft. He quickly

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targeted one of them with his radar. The MiG spotted him and
turned away. Low on gas, Cox could not pursue. Instead he
turned back south and tried to rejoin with Major Tice.
Moments later Tice’s engine failed. He stayed with his aircraft
as long as possible before ejecting. He was 150 miles inside Iraq.
As he descended, he grabbed his emergency radio and re-
ported that he could see enemy personnel watching from be-
low. He was difficult to hear because the enemy was jamming
the rescue frequency. Tice asked for aid from his flight, but all
were extremely low on fuel and could not remain. He was cap-
tured by Bedouin tribesmen as he landed.121
Unaware of his fate, the flight passed his location to AWACS.
They reported it to the JRCC, who tasked the mission to SOC-
CENT. SOCCENT analyzed the situation and determined that a
rescue in the area was possible. As diverted F-15s orbited Tice’s
reported position, an MC-130 searched the area but did not
make contact with Tice.
Fortuitously, about 170 miles south, two MH-53s of the 20th
SOS were flying from ArAr to Rafha. The flight leader was Capt
Tim Minish, call sign Moccasin 05. The second aircraft was
flown by Capt Paul Harmon. En route, they were contacted on
their tactical radio by Colonel Comer. Comer gave them initial
rescue data and ordered them to quickly refuel the two aircraft
at Rafha.
They landed and took their aircraft through the refueling pits.
Based upon the reported position of the survivor, Minish planned
the best ingress using a preplanned “spider route” which he
personally had helped develop with CENTAF intelligence.
When both aircraft were fueled, they headed north. Each had
a crew of eight, which included two Air Force PJs. As they ap-
proached the border, the weather began to deteriorate, with
decreasing visibility and lowering ceilings. In the weather, Cap-
tain Harmon was flying one-half rotor width from the lead air-
craft at about 80 feet above the ground. They entered an espe-
cially thick fog bank, and Harmon lost sight of the lead aircraft.
Automatically, he moved away from his leader’s last known po-
sition to ensure separation and transitioned to flying by his
own instruments. He was then able to acquire the lead aircraft
on his radar and fell into a trail formation.122

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Two MH-60s from the 3/160 SOAR also launched. They pro-
ceeded to an orbit point near the border in case Moccasin and
Harmon needed any help.
Approximately 40 miles from the survivor, Moccasin 05 con-
tacted the F-15 CAP. The flight lead (Kayo 01) was the on-scene
commander and gave them a quick area briefing. He told them
about an active AAA site five miles to the east. Minish asked
AWACS for a strike flight to hit the AAA site. A flight of F-16s
checked in with Minish, and he gave them a rough location for
the enemy guns. The F-16s tried to get below the weather to
find the guns but were unable to do so and left the area.
Ten miles from the survivor’s location, the crew of Moccasin
05 started calling him on the emergency frequencies. Above,
Kayo 01 did the same. When Stroke 65 did not respond, the
helicopter crews started a sector search. That proved fruitless
though they searched the area for about 30 minutes and flew
over several Bedouin encampments. They reported this to
AWACS, and the controller gave them another set of coordinates
farther south where aircraft wreckage had been sighted.
They headed to the new site, calling for Stroke 65 as they
went. He never responded. Approaching the new location,
“Shawnee” called and informed them that the Iraqi sector de-
fenses had detected their presence through the use of radio
direction finding. Neither Minish nor Harmon knew who Shaw-
nee was, but after spending so much time deep in enemy ter-
ritory, neither was inclined to question the call. With AWACS
closely monitoring their flight path, the two MH-53s turned
south and departed. The weather was still terrible, and again,
they had to use their terrain-following radar to allow them to
stay low.123
Crossing the border they were briefly illuminated by a spot-
light and observed some AAA well behind them. They landed at
Rafha uneventfully just ahead of a slow-moving fog bank. The
crews had logged more than five hours in enemy territory.124
All efforts to contact Tice were futile because, upon capture,
he was stripped of his emergency gear and radio. As the aircraft
searched, he was a prisoner held captive in a Bedouin tent. He
could only listen as the aircraft passed overhead.125
While the effort to rescue Major Tice had been unsuccessful,
the mission did mark a milestone. Captain Harmon wrote

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This was the first time that the Pave Low had been fully used as de-
signed—Vietnam lessons learned, adverse weather, night capability,
etc. It was actually the first time the airplane had ever done what it was
designed to do. We never considered turning around because of the
weather. We just continued north. Tim [Minish] had already configured
his airplane to set up his hover coupler to descend through the weather
had he needed to once we got into the area, had Tice come up on the
radio.126

Colonel Comer was also impressed with the ability of the

MH-53 to operate through the low clouds in enemy territory
with relative impunity. The ability of the Iraqi defenses to ef-
fectively DF the survivors’ radios and even partly track aircraft
through their radio communications concerned him, however.
That was a dangerous development and portended great dan-
ger for his helicopter crews. He pointed out that,
You have a helicopter with six or eight people—which is a tasty morsel
all its own—taking the risk to pick up the single person who might be
out there . . . or two people. It is not a rescue, it’s a war. . . . When you
say rescue you think about a Coast Guard guy who went out there and
picked up some guy who is in trouble. That is a worthy and worthwhile
mission. But doing it while there is somebody out there trying to shoot
you—that is a war. And that is what we were thinking. How do we deal
with the war? How do we deal with the desert? How do we deal with all
of these things that seem to be threatening to us while at the same time,
we have to have the communication and wherewithal to know where a
person is? Now we did launch and we did end up searching.127

The effort for Major Tice had been valiant if unsuccessful. Un-
fortunately, he was not the only pilot lost in Force Package Q.

I024 – Clap 74/F-16, USAF

Capt Harry Roberts of the 614th TFS was flying in the strike
package with Major Tice.128 In the same melee, Roberts’ flight
was engaged by an SA-2 battery but was able to evade its mis-
siles. Weather had moved over their target, and they were not
able to drop their bombs. Instead they turned south to egress
and were engaged by a newer and much more lethal SA-6.
Roberts’ F-16 was specifically targeted by the enemy site. His
radar-warning receiver lit up, telling him that he was locked in
by the tracking radar. He maneuvered his aircraft and jetti-
soned his bombs and external fuel tanks in an effort to evade
the threat. He was unsuccessful, and the battery launched two
missiles at him. One missile guided true and detonated near

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his aircraft. He felt a little bump and saw smoke coming from
below his left wing. His engine was still running normally. He
tried to head south toward Saudi Arabia. Then his flight con-
trols locked up, and he ejected at about 22,000 feet.
He free-fell until his parachute deployed, as programmed, at
14,000 feet. He was immediately struck by the relative silence.
Above he could hear the jets in the distance, departing to the
south. It was a lonely realization. Below, he could hear the oc-
casional sound of the AAA guns still firing. Looking down, he
could see tracer rounds streak by and a large four-lane highway
running off to the south. He could see vehicles stopping along it
and people getting out to watch him float to the ground. Not too
far north was an occupied AAA site. He could see the gunners
watching him. As he hit the ground in an open field, he grabbed
his emergency bailout kit and tried to move away from the road
and soldiers. The combined enemy group was able to cut off any
escape route, and sensing his fate, he put up his hands.129 Un-
fortunately, none of his flight mates saw him eject, and because
of his quick capture, he did not get out an emergency call.130
AWACS reported the loss to the JRCC, and they tasked it to
SOCCENT, but without any contact with the pilot or any real
knowledge of his location, no rescue effort was mounted.
Immediate tactical lessons were drawn from the loss of these
two aircraft:
1. Large packages of aircraft could not be sent into the skies
over Baghdad.
2. Bad things happened when aircraft were in SAM rings
and the Wild Weasels were not available.
3. F-16 packages should be smaller in size so that they were
more manageable.131

From then on, only F-117s and cruise missiles would hit tar-
gets in Baghdad.

I026/M004 – Dark 13/Tornado, RSAF

This aircraft had a communications problem and ran out of
fuel as it tried to land at two airfields that were both below

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

landing minimums because of fog. The crew ejected near Hafr

Al Batin and was rescued by Saudi ground forces.132
Not all losses in war are to the enemy. All of the other factors—
bad weather, mechanical problems, human failure—still apply.

I027 – Newport 15B/Tornado, RAF

Eight Tornadoes were fragged to attack the main airfield at Al
Tallil near Basra.133 This was a very heavily defended position
with multiple AAA sites and a Roland missile battery. The Tor-
nado crews decided to modify their tactics. The first four aircraft
would carry 1,000-pound bombs that they intended to “loft” onto
the airfield to suppress the defenses while the second four air-
craft attacked the runway with their JP.233 cluster munitions.
The aircraft successfully rendezvoused with their tanker to
top off their gas, then made a low-level run into southern Iraq.
The approach to the target was deceptively quiet. As the first
four began their “pop-up” maneuver to release their bombs, the
airfield defenses discovered them and began to react. Immedi-
ately, the sky was filled with tracer rounds. Flt Lt David Wad-
dington and Flt Lt Robert Stewart detected a Roland site di-
rectly in front of them. They saw it launch a missile at them.
The pilot banked the aircraft sharply to the left and dropped
chaff. The missile went off below the aircraft in a tremendous
white flash. The blast shattered the canopy and knocked the
pilot unconscious. Stewart, in the back seat, used the “com-
mand” ejection system to eject both of them. Stewart had a bro-
ken shoulder, a crushed vertebra, and a broken leg.
The other crews in the flight saw the aircraft go down and
reported the loss and lack of contact with the crew. They were
convinced that the crewmembers had been killed. In fact, both
were still alive. They tried to signal with their survival radios,
using both voice and beacon, but were never heard. After an
estimated 14 hours, they were captured. Both were released
after the war.134
In the TACC, General Glosson felt that perhaps the Brits
were on the ground and evading. He wanted to send in recov-
ery forces and discussed it with Capt Randy O’Boyle. O’Boyle
argued that the area was far too dangerous for any kind of

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

helicopter search, especially since they had no contact with

either crewmember.135
The loss of another Tornado sent shock waves through the
air planners. At the rate they were being lost, the Tornadoes
would not survive the war.

***

The euphoria that the commanders had felt after the first two
days of the air war quickly evaporated. The steady loss of the
Tornadoes and the double loss of Stroke 65 and Clap 74 made
the planners realize that they did not yet have the key to victory
in this conflict.
Now another dilemma was developing. Apparently Saddam
had decided to step up the use of his Scud missiles. During the
1980s the Soviet Union had sold Iraq large numbers of these
short-range missiles. They had fired 190 of them against Iran
in their border war. The missiles had a range of 600 km, with a
180-kilogram warhead and a CEP (circular error probable) of
2,000 meters. Tactically speaking, they were not worth much.136
But that was not the problem. With that range, they could hit
any country in the Gulf region—including Israel. If Israel chose
to respond, the Scuds would become a political and hence stra-
tegic problem, because an Israeli response could affect the deli-
cate coalition so carefully crafted to defeat Saddam and Iraq.
Since the first Scud launches 18 January, Horner had di-
rected that air strikes be sent to attack the launch areas in
western Iraq. With each missile launch, more flights were di-
verted from the Baghdad area to the vicinity of the H-2 and H-3
airfields. But the launches did not abate, and the Israelis had
begun to react. At one point they had launched a large force of
F-16s to hit the sites in western Iraq. Frantic calls from Wash-
ington convinced Israel to recall the fighters. General Schwarz-
kopf became aware of Israeli plans to launch a sustained cam-
paign against the sites, which would even include attack
helicopters, and all of this would proceed through Saudi air-
space.137 He ordered his airmen to “do something.”
General Horner swung into action and began to modify the
air campaign plan. The following sequence was recorded in the
TACC log on 18 January:

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

0825 – General Glosson on the phone in the Black Hole: We will

spend the remainder of the day targeting Scud sites.
0938 – General Glosson: CINC [Schwarzkopf] is getting a lot
of calls from Washington about the Scuds.
0948 – Second launch of A-10s found seven TELS [mobile
launchers]; destroyed two. We are sending more A-10s.
1040 – [Col] Crigger to Horner: A-10s are being sent to
seven TELS. Also the F-15s are on the way. . . .
Horner: They (F-15s) should be there by now. Doesn’t
care if they get there all at the same time. Want those
Scuds gone.138
Glosson immediately directed the diversion of more flights
into the western areas. A contingent of A-10s was deployed
west to Al Jouf to maintain a constant presence over that area.
Given the physical nature of the missiles and their fixed- and
mobile-launch systems, planners determined that the best
weapons to send against the Scuds were the F-15Es of the 4th
Wing at Al Kharj Air Base. The air planners began diverting
them wholesale to the Scud targets. Like the day before, over
Baghdad, the flight leaders did not have a lot of time to fully
plan and brief their missions.

I028/M007 – Corvette 03/F-15E, USAF

A package of 24 F-15Es was diverted from other preplanned
missions to hit Scud missile sites in western Iraq.139 Coming
less than six hours before takeoff, the changes caused near
chaos among the crews as they scrambled to get proper intel-
ligence and request support assets to attack the sites. The area
was extremely dangerous because of all the enemy defenses
there. The aircrews nicknamed it “Sam’s Town,” the name of a
nightclub in Las Vegas, for the preponderance of SAM sites.
Flying as the number three aircraft in Corvette flight was the
wing director of operations, Col David Eberly, and Maj Tom
Griffith, who was considered one of the best WSOs in the unit.
Only as the flight crews walked to their jets were they finally
handed the actual aim points to be used for their bomb deliver-
ies, and the necessary times over target (TOT) were changed

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 Photo courtesy of Dave Eberly

Col Dave Eberly was the ill-fated pilot of Corvette 03.

Source: Darrel Whitcomb

The back-seater in Corvette 03 was Maj Tom Griffith, shown here in a 2005
photograph.

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

twice. The flight leader, Lt Col “Scottie” Scott remarked to Colo-

nel Eberly, “This thing is a goat rope. It’s the kind of mission
that gets people killed.”
Silently, Eberly concurred but understood the importance of
the mission. He knew that there were SA-2s and SA-3s in the
target area, and the ALQ-135 jamming pod on his aircraft did
not have jamming capability against those weapons. Corvette
flight would have to rely on the supporting F-4Gs and EF-111s
to suppress the SAM sites.140
After takeoff, the situation progressively worsened. First they
had trouble finding their refueling tankers in the thick clouds.
Then they found out that the F-4G Wild Weasels scheduled to
support them had not been given the new TOTs and would not
be with them as they entered the target area.
As the strike aircraft flew west, they were again hit with mis-
fortune. Colonel Scott had requested jamming support from
EF-111s. A flight of two had, in fact, arrived on station and set
up their orbits to electronically jam the Iraqi missile sites. But
an Iraqi MiG-25 took off, intent on downing one of them. As it
darted through the two EF-111s, it fired three missiles. Both
pilots took evasive action and the missiles missed. The maneu-
vers drove the two jammers out of their orbit. Not knowing
where the MiG had gone, the pilots turned their defenseless
aircraft south and headed for the safety of Saudi airspace, leav-
ing the F-15Es unprotected as they entered the dangerous
skies of western Iraq.141
Unaware that his flight was not supported, Scott led his six
jets toward their targets. Thirty miles from the targets they
started seeing airbursts from radar-controlled AAA. At 10 miles
out they came under attack from SA-2 and SA-3 radar-directed
missiles. Corvette 01 and 02 made their attacks. As Corvette 03
approached the drop point, Eberly detected a warning from his
radar-warning receiver that an SA-2 was tracking the aircraft.
Almost immediately, he spotted a missile approaching from the
right. He jinked into the missile and it streaked by. He had just
rolled back to the left to release his bombs when the aircraft
was rocked by a violent white explosion from a second missile.
The two men were momentarily stunned by the blast. Eberly
tried to focus as he scanned the instrument panel but was
quickly overwhelmed by the rapidly increasing number of warn-

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ing lights. The aircraft had been fatally wounded. In the back-
seat, Tom Griffith tried to make a Mayday call on the radio.
Instinctively, Eberly pulled the ejection handle, ejecting him
immediately. Griffith ejected quickly thereafter.142
Both men floated down through the bitterly cold night air.
Griffith landed uneventfully. Eberly lost his helmet and oxygen
mask in the ejection. Aloft in the thin air, he succumbed to hy-
poxia and passed out. He woke up on the ground but was men-
tally confused. He had not taken any refresher courses in com-
bat survival during Desert Shield. Additionally, he had not
taken the time to develop a pre-mission evasion plan with the
intelligence section back at the base. As his head cleared, he
grabbed his parachute and moved away from his ejection seat,
leaving the rest of his survival kit behind.
The two men could not see each other. Eberly took out his
PRC-90 radio and made an emergency call, “This is Chevy . . . .”
He stopped and remembered that Chevy had been his call sign
on a previous mission. He started over, “This is Corvette 03 on
guard. How do you read?” There was no answer. Sensing that
his WSO was not too far away, he called Griffith, who also had
a PRC-90. Visibility was good, so using various distinctive land-
marks, they were able to rendezvous after only 15 minutes and
immediately started looking for cover.
Griffith had all of his survival gear. Together they moved off
to the southwest. As the sun came up, Griffith could see that
Eberly had a gash in the back of his head and a bad scrape on
his face. He tended to him as best he could, then they wrapped
themselves in the parachute and got some sleep.
Corvette 01 reported to AWACS that Corvette 03 was missing.
They immediately notified the JRCC. It had been a hectic night
with numerous reports of aircraft down and emergency beacons
detected. The JRCC controllers had to sort through the data
coming in to them. Initially, they checked with all the airfields
where an F-15E could have landed. When controllers could not
account for the aircraft, they had to assume that they were
down and then attempt to locate them. Returning to base, one
member of the Corvette flight reported that the aircraft had gone
down at approximate coordinates of latitude 34˚13' N, longitude
040˚55' E, about 10 miles southwest of the target. That was a
start, but considering that it came from an aircraft moving at

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

more than 500 miles per hour and under fire at the time, it was
not accurate enough to launch highly vulnerable helicopters
into such a high-threat area. Data came in from the SARSAT,
but its CEPs were too large to commit any helicopters.
Colonel Hampton monitored the inflow of data and recalled,
“We knew they punched out. We had intel on them from the
RC-135 that the Iraqis were looking for them for a while and
one ground group said that they had captured them.”143
Hampton wanted to launch helicopters immediately, but he
did not have the authority to do so.144 Following the CSAR plan,
they passed that data on to SOCCENT. There, Col George Gray
began to intensively study the situation. He could stage MH-
53s out of ArAr, and indeed, crews there were directed to begin
mission planning. But they would need tanker support, which
was problematic because that whole section of Iraq was one of
the most highly defended areas in the entire country. Sending
in tankers would put a large number of aircrew at risk.145 The
JRCC had not reported an accurate position on the men or
even that they were alive and still free. Gray would not send his
helicopters in to do a search. It did appear that the men, if they
were there, were above the dividing line with the combat rescue
forces in Proven Force. He suggested to his boss, Colonel John-
son, that they pass the mission to them.146 They sent an alert
message to the guys in Turkey, who began initial planning.147
Throughout the night and next morning, the JRCC worked
with various intelligence assets to determine the status and
position of the survivors and alerted them to be vigilant for any
radio calls from the two men. But such signals were dangerous
because the Iraqis were known to have excellent homing capa-
bilities to track any calls from the PRC-90 radios. Intelligence
sources also suspected that the Iraqis themselves were setting
off beacons as decoys.148 All of this had to be resolved.
Additionally, General Glosson indicated that some things
were going on behind the scenes. Other government agencies
were working to get the two men, possibly by passing “opera-
tives” through Syria. Such a plan was discussed at SOCCENT,
and the JRCC guys were aware that some possible options were
being considered.149
Colonel Gray suggested to Colonel Johnson that they request
access through Syria for a possible helicopter mission. They sent

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

it up the line, and CENTCOM made a formal request through

diplomatic channels for authorization to use Syrian airspace.
They expected approval since Syria was an ally in the war.150
As Eberly and Griffith slept, intelligence sources picked up
what appeared to be another downed aircraft in the area. They
monitored a Mayday call for someone using the call sign Crest
45A. The JRCC quickly did a check with the air operations cen-
ter and determined that there was nobody using that call sign.
They also checked with the Proven Force command center and
got the same result.151
Meanwhile, a civilian had come into the US Embassy in Am-
man, Jordan, and said that he had information that Eberly was
alive. He suggested that he could turn him over to the American
government for a reward. This took time to resolve as bogus.152
As time passed with little apparently happening, some per-
sonnel in the TACC began to question the lack of activity on the
part of the rescue forces. Capt Randy O’Boyle began to take
some heat from some of the fighter guys. He recalled, “Some of
the F-15 guys were giving me some [heat]. I said, ‘Look, next
time you’re out there . . ., why don’t you just descend down to
altitude, drop your gear, drop your flaps, and just go look for
somebody on the ground in one of those spots where you think
there is somebody. And as soon as you get him then you let us
know. . . . You just can’t go trundling into some place in a high-
threat environment without knowing exactly where the guy
is.”153
His view was shared by Col Ben Orrell, Colonel Gray’s direc-
tor of operations, back at the 1st SOW at Hurlburt and SOC-
CENT. Colonel Orrell said,
I’m not kidding you, you could see those Paves [MH-53 Pave Lows] 50
miles off. There was no hiding them. That’s a big ol’ slow moving tar-
get—I was reluctant to go cruising in there in the daytime. There cer-
tainly may have been a situation where we would have done it, but if
you don’t have a guy talking to you on the radio, it’s pretty hard to con-
vince me to send another two or three crews in there. . . . The only way
we were going to survive as a rescue force in that environment was to
fly at night. And I don’t think that the fast movers [fighter pilots] ever
accepted the fact that we were not just going to come plunging in there
in daytime like we had done in Vietnam. Had we done that, we’d have
lost more [crews].154

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But that was exactly what the F-15E crews expected. When
Eberly did not return, his assistant, Col Bob Ruth, became the
acting director of operations for the wing. He had flown OV-10s
over the Ho Chi Minh Trail and recalled, “When we were over in
SEA [Southeast Asia], if an airplane went down, we dedicated
just about any air we could to try to suppress the area to try to
get the survivors out.”155
But that was not happening here. The F-15Es were held for
the anti-Scud missions. Colonel Ruth said, “Everybody just
kept doing his mission and everything was handed over to the
[C]SAR folks.”156
During the day, several strike flights flew through the area.
As each would pass, Eberly or Griffith would attempt to make
contact. One of the groups was a flight of four F-16s from the
10th TFS led by its commander, Lt Col Ed Houle.
As with Corvette the previous night, his mission had been a
last-minute change from a 40-aircraft package of F-16s, F-15s,
and other assorted support aircraft against a target in the
Baghdad area to the Scud sites out west. In preparation for the
new mission, he had not been briefed that any crews had been
shot down in the Al Qāim area. Approaching his target he heard,
“This is Corvette 03. Does anybody read?”
Not expecting such a call, he let it pass and struck his target.
That fully taxed him since it was well defended and the AAA
and SAM sites were active. Leaving the area, he checked out
with the AWACS. He asked them, “Hey, who is Corvette 03?”
The controller responded, “Why, did you hear something?”
Houle replied that he had. The controller thanked him and
directed him to return to his base.
Landing back at his base and now fully suspicious, he walked
into intelligence for the mission debrief. “Who . . . is Corvette
03?” he demanded. The intelligence officer informed Houle that
Corvette 03 was an F-15E shot down in the Al Qāim area the
previous night and that rescue forces were trying to locate them
for rescue. Houle’s cockpit mission tape was pulled and for-
warded to the 4th Wing, where unit members identified the
voice as that of Colonel Eberly.
All of this came as a complete surprise to Houle because no
one in the flight had been briefed that there was a downed air-
crew in that area. If they had, they would have been on the

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lookout for them. Houle made sure pre-mission briefing proce-

dures were changed to ensure that all of his pilots were briefed
on downed crews or CSAR efforts going on in any areas in which
they would be flying. In fact this was passed to the JRCC, and
they then sent out a report every 12 hours to all units giving
information on downed aircrews.
Houle also recommended to higher authorities that all air-
crews should use the term Mayday if they were down instead
of just talking on the radio. That would get the immediate at-
tention of any aircrews listening.157
That evening, as another flight of F-15Es was passing through
the area, one of the crews, Chevy 06, apparently made momen-
tary voice contact with Griffith. Chevy 06’s position at the time
was almost 30 miles southwest of the target area and did not
correlate with any other reports. The flight lead on this flight
was Griffith’s squadron commander, Lt Col Steve Turner. He
was certain that he had talked to Griffith.158
Returning from his mission, Turner called and spoke with
some of the controllers in the JRCC. They asked if he had au-
thenticated either man by asking any of the personal questions
each kept in his file for such occasions. Turner replied that he
had not, but he was absolutely certain that it was Griffith on the
radio because he had served with the man for three years. He
became adamant that more be done to get the men out. He was
coming to the opinion that the rescue forces were slow-rolling
them for some reason. When the JRCC explained the difficulties
they were having locating the guys, he suggested, strongly, that
an F-15E be sent in, not as part of a strike package but specifi-
cally to find the guys.159 He was told the F-15Es were needed to
hit targets. CENTAF would send in F-15Cs to search.160
The 4th Wing commander was also upset. He called the JRCC
and is quoted by one of his young majors as having said, “Is
this incompetence or is it just sheer cowardice?”161
Tension was building in the TACC to do something to rescue
the aircrew. Some wanted to send the helicopters regardless;
others were more cautious.
Colonel Hampton took direct action: “Every mission that
went up into that area we tasked to make radio calls, to moni-
tor the frequencies. We tried everything that we could in order
to make contact with those guys.”162

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Word of the lack of action spread through the 4th Wing. An-
other F-15E pilot, Maj Richard Crandall, said, “You can’t be-
lieve how angry we were that they were not going up there look-
ing for those guys. We were so angry that Al Gale and I actually
proposed to take a vehicle and drive up there to get them.”163
Col George Gray was holding the line. He was not sure where
the two men were. He also knew that without good authentica-
tion that the voices on the radio were, in fact, Eberly and
Griffith, it could be a trap. The North Vietnamese had done this
numerous times. He did not want to lose a helicopter crew or
fighter escort to a trap. Solid procedures had been established
to authenticate downed crewmen, but they were not being fol-
lowed. He had no control over that. That was JRCC’s business.
He did not want to commit a helicopter crew until he was sure.
But the pressure was building to do something.164
By this time, Colonel Hampton was not sanguine about the
chances of recovery or even the efficacy of making an effort. He
recalled,
The guys could have still been down there, and if you can do it without
losing anybody to do it, great. But as far as pushing for a mission at that
point, we weren’t in that position, and we left it up to the SOC[CENT]
guys to determine. If you want to go in there and do it, fine, okay—but
we didn’t agree on coordinates. We had a position that was farther to the
east. Why they went to where they did I think was based on some cuts
from an RC-135. I’m not sure that was a real good position on the guys.
That was probably two-day-old data at that time, and if your RC-135 is
down here [in Saudi] and you’re doing DF up to that position . . . I know
their gear is sophisticated, however there’s got to be some precision
there.165

Up at Batman in Turkey, the Proven Force MH-53 crews were

busy planning contingencies. They were collecting all available
information, although this was a difficult task at such a remote
location. Given the general area of the survivors, they could see
immediately that flying east into Iraq and then south to the Al
Qāim area was much too dangerous. One of the pilots, Capt
Steve Otto, explained the tactical problem. “[Flying east] we
simply would not have the range to make it down towards Al
Qāim. So given the threat and that large obstacle in the tri-
border area . . . we knew that if we were going to get to Al Qāim,
we were going to have to fly over Syria. We started asking for
over-flight permission to go through Syria.”166

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That was not all that concerned the Pave Low pilots. Captain
Otto explained,
We had a call sign but we did not have any survivor data or any ISO-
PREP [isolated personnel report] information. Perhaps more disturbing
was that we had three last-known positions and they were in a triangle
that was about 20 miles on each leg. The bad part about it is that, had
it been in a low-threat area, it would have been no big deal and we prob-
ably would have been less intimidated. But this area, Al Qāim, had in-
tense AAA and surface-to-air missile defenses. We knew that that was
one of the early target areas and Corvette 03 had been shot down strik-
ing targets in that vicinity . . . this was really an intensely defended
area.167

Back at Al Kharj, Col Bob Ruth listened to the tape supplied

by Ed Houle and then had it flown to the JRCC. There, Hamp-
ton and the JRCC controllers listened to it and the pleadings of
the guys from the 4th Wing. They called Colonel Gray at SOC-
CENT. Gray was finally convinced by their assurances and ac-
quiesced. With positive voice contact, SOCCENT decided to
launch a mission.
They formally tasked the combat rescue forces in Turkey.
There was enough darkness left that they could make it in the
dark—their preferred method of operations. But there were
other issues with which to deal. First, the pilots, Capt Grant
Harden and his copilot Capt Matt Shozda, and Capt Steve Otto
and his copilot Capt J. D. Clem, all felt that they did not have
enough solid intelligence data to properly plan and execute the
mission. They took the matter to their squadron commander,
who went to work to get them better information, especially a
more precise location for the survivors.168 Second, Turkey was
still skittish about the entire Proven Force operation and re-
fused them launch authority. By the time all of that was re-
solved, they had lost the night.169
Getting into the Al Qāim area in a helicopter was a tough
tactical challenge due to the level of enemy defenses. George
Gray had already concluded that any approach from the south
with his helicopters and their tankers was just about suicidal.
The problem was similar from the north. Any approach down
out of the mountains along the Turkish-Iraqi border and then
across the flat midland of Iraq was just as dangerous. But an
approach through Syria looked much safer, as Colonel Gray
had recommended at the beginning.

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Syria had not granted a flight clearance for the mission. In-
stead, the Syrian authorities recommended that they them-
selves send in a team to pick up the two flyers. Then to further
confuse the entire issue, that Bedouin tribesman had come to
the US Embassy in Jordan claiming to have a “blood chit” from
one of the flyers. He wanted to trade the two men for a new
truck.170 All of the political wrangling just cost further delays.
The next day, Eberly’s spirits soared when he heard what
was obviously a combat rescue effort under way. He began call-
ing on the radio, but could get no response. In fact a rescue
operation was going on; it just was not for him and his WSO,
but for a Navy F-14 crew (Slate 46) who had gone down well to
the east.
At the JRCC, Colonel Hampton was trying to task every air-
craft going into the Al Qāim area to listen for and try to locate
the two men.171 Unaware of the efforts being made in their be-
half, Eberly decided that they were not going to be rescued. He
talked it over with Griffith, and they decided that since they
were so close to Syria, perhaps they could walk out. They had
a map, although it was out of date, and felt that they had a
fairly good idea of where they were, so they set out walking
west. They encountered some Bedouin camps and even some
vehicles but were not detected.
That evening the pilot of an F-15C, call sign Mobil 41, heard
their emergency beacon and directed them to go to the backup
frequency.
Switching over, one of the men said, “Go ahead.”
Mobil 41 responded, “We are just trying to get hold of you to
see if you’re still around. What is your physical condition?”
Griffith responded, “Physical condition is good. Alpha and
Bravo are together. We are approximately 10 miles northwest of
[garbled].”
Mobile 41 responded, “Corvette 03, we read you. We will be
flying closer to get better radio contact.”
Anxious, Eberly asked, “Do you understand our position?”
At that point, somebody came on the frequency and shouted,
“SAR in effect, get off of this frequency.” The interloper did not
identify himself. But Mobil 41 could not reestablish contact
with the crew of Corvette 03 and was not able to verify their

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position or authenticate them. The two men continued to call

on both frequencies, but their calls went unanswered.
Moving to the west, the two men discussed pressing on to
Syria or hiding and waiting for rescue forces. Near the border,
Eberly spotted what appeared to be an abandoned building.
Both men were cold and soaked, and the idea of being inside,
sheltered from the wind was appealing. Eberly tiptoed up to the
building and looked through one of the windows to see if it were
safe. The building suddenly exploded with automatic weapons
fire as a dozen soldiers came running out. In the early morning
hours and only a few miles from the Syrian border, the two
Americans were captured.172
The rescue forces did not know of the capture, but did notice
that they no longer had contact with the two men. Throughout
the day, strike flights hit targets in the Sam’s Town area and
called for Corvette 03. Intelligence assets kept a tuned ear for
any sign of the men. Nothing was heard. The SOCCENT com-
mander conferred with the SOCEUR commander about the
mission. They reviewed all pertinent known data on the two
men. Finally satisfied that the mission had a reasonable chance
of success, Col Jesse Johnson, the SOCCENT commander, di-
rected them to execute, contingent upon Syrian approval to use
their airspace.
The men from Proven Force were primed and ready to go in
that night. Again, Capt Grant Harden and Capt Steve Otto and
their designated copilots would fly the two MH-53s. This time,
supplied with better intelligence and necessary data on the
survivors, they planned to make the flight through Syria es-
corted by an MC-130 tanker aircraft. Their arrival in the Al
Qāim area would be coordinated with several air strikes de-
signed to divert the attention of the SAM and AAA sites. SOC-
CENT and the forces at Batman felt that the supporting air
strikes and the use of Syrian airspace would give the best
chance of success and survival of the rescue helicopters and
crews. But copilot Clem was dismayed that even as they were
being driven to their aircraft, they were still being given “up-
dated” coordinates on the survivors. And they were varying by
as much as 20 miles.
At launch time the Syrian approval had still not come through.
Captains Otto and Harden with their crews were ready in the

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massive MH-53s. On board each helicopter, in addition to the

pilots, were two flight engineers, two door gunners, two PJs, a
combat controller, and a few Army Special Forces troops for
ground security. They reported that they were ready and were
directed to launch. They started engines, and Captain Otto dis-
covered that the radar jamming system on his aircraft was in-
operative. He decided to go anyway, and the flight took off.
Approaching Syrian airspace they still had not received the
necessary overflight clearance. The command center told them
to press on to the objective area. Twenty minutes later they
were notified that approval had been obtained from Syria to
enter its airspace. En route they received several more calls on
their SATCOM radio reconfirming their clearance. The numer-
ous calls became a distraction.
For two hours, they flew toward Al Qāim. Their flight path
was right along the Iraqi-Syrian border. They tried to maintain
an altitude of about 100 feet. There was no moon, but starlight
illumination was enough for night vision. The pilots found the
flying to be challenging. They had not gotten used to flying
blacked out over shifting sand dunes and could not help but
become concerned every time the radar altimeter showed that
they were less than 10 feet off the ground. Several times they
had to climb abruptly to avoid towers and wires, and at one
point, they flew through a flock of birds. Several hit each air-
craft.173
Approaching the Euphrates River, they were locked on and
tracked by an SA-6 from their right. It was obviously a Syrian
site, and they moved to avoid it. With an inoperative radar
jamming system on their aircraft, this especially concerned
Captains Otto and Clem, but they gave no thought to turning
back.174
Capt Grant Harden had a solid plan. “Our plan was to hit a
final IP [initial point] and then make a run-in. The run-in to the
exact location would be based on contact. If there were no con-
tact, we would not go beyond the final area.”175
As the mission proceeded, it was being monitored nervously,
even by commanders back in the United States. Brig Gen Dale
Stovall at AFSOC said, “We held our breath. There was a tre-
mendous amount of pressure to send [the helicopters] in to
search when we didn’t have a good fixed position on those

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guys.”176 He was about to go crazy because it brought back

powerful memories of Jolly Green crews sent in to North Viet-
nam to look for downed fighter crews in 1972. The losses suf-
fered by the rescue crews back then had been high. Stovall
could still see their faces.
Near dangerous Al Qāim, the two blacked-out helicopters en-
tered Iraq. Low and slow, they began to move to the IP. Captain
Harden had requested that they be supported by preceding air
strikes against Iraqi SAMs and AAA in the area and one fighter
aircraft to act as on-scene commander (OSC). Specifically, the
designated OSC would arrive just ahead of the helicopters,
contact the survivors, authenticate them, and have them ready
for a quick pickup. But it didn’t turn out that way. Harden re-
called, “The entire sequence, as always happens, did not come
off as planned. There was supposed to be a diversionary cover-
ing air strike. It was late and short. When we went in, we were
supposed to have a high bird make contact. That never hap-
pened.”177
Without an OSC, they were basically on their own. Captain
Otto described how the mission proceeded:
We got down to the [IP] and we started holding in kind of a figure 8, not
to fly over the same ground track. We were about a mile into Syria. Our
ROE [rules of engagement] from our squadron commander was that we
were not going to fly or commit into the threat area around Al Qāim un-
less the survivors came up on the radio. We noticed that there was a
slight rise and we could stay masked. As all of this is going on, the giant
light show is going on with the AAA. It was towards the strike aircraft
but randomly. It wasn’t guided toward us. It was just fired up into the
air, which is kind of the way they seemed to do things. We eventually got
there and realized that the fighters were not going to get Corvette 03 up
on the radio.
We orbited for about 5 minutes and expected to hear them call. We were
on time as we got to the orbit point. It coincided perfectly with the strik-
ers getting there.
Then eventually, Grant and his copilot Matt Shozda realized that it was
just getting screwed up and we were going to have to do our own au-
thentication. And Grant told us to stay down low. He climbed up a
couple of hundred feet, maybe 500 feet, and just started talking on the
radio . . . trying to get them up on the radio. Probably after about a
minute delay, we started to notice that the Iraqi AAA started to get real
intense, once we had talked on the radio. And even in the aircraft, we
felt that they were intercepting and DF-ing us. Then the fighters joined
in trying to get them up on the radios. Corvette 03 only had PRC-90s.
And we knew as long as we were there and talking on the radio, the

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odds of the mission being compromised were greater. Bottom line is

that we stayed down there for almost 30 minutes orbiting and calling on
the radio. Never heard a word from Corvette 03. Then, reluctantly, with-
out radio contact, we were done. We flew back to Turkey.178

Capt Matt Shozda in the other aircraft had similar memories:

I got on the radio and started trying all the different frequencies to con-
tact him. Somewhere at that point, we realized that the SAR net was
nothing more than a radio-controlled AAA, pilot-controlled AAA. We
would key the mike and they would start firing. I told Harden, “Look!
They’re DF-in’ us. Watch this!” So I made a radio call and they started
shooting again. He told me, “Cut that out!” They definitely had a trap set
up for us. They were waiting for us because the final location that we
got—that’s where all the AAA was coming from.179

With no contact, the two crews left the area according to plan.
Arriving back at Batman, they went into crew rest. The next
day they were back into the alert cycle. Within a few days their
unit at Batman established a communications link with higher
headquarters, which enabled them to get daily intelligence up-
dates and even the ATO [air tasking order]. Whenever coalition
crews were flying over Iraq, MH-53 crews at Batman were on
alert for combat recovery. It was their primary mission.
The next day General Jamerson visited the base and was
briefed by the crews on the mission. He listened intently and
then declared that searching for survivors in high-threat areas
was a task for fighter crews, not helicopter crews. The MH-53
crews concurred.
A few days later the MH-53 crews at Batman got a chance to
see the CNN footage from Baghdad of the first night of the war.
They could not help but notice that the AAA was much less
intense that what they had seen at Al Qāim.180
For the next several days, flights into the Al Qāim area con-
tinued to listen and call for Corvette 03. Not ready to give up,
Colonel Gray had his forces build a task force of MH-60s, MH-
53s, and MC-130 tankers at ArAr for another attempt. The air-
crews planned diligently for the mission and waited for the ex-
ecute order, but they were under no illusions as to the difficulty
of reentering the Al Qāim area.181 But Gray never sent the exe-
cute order, because neither the location nor status of the two
men could be determined. The reason was simple—Eberly and
Griffith were on their way to Baghdad.

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But the saga of Corvette 03 was not over. The men of the 4th
Wing were bitter about the nonrescue of their mates. Their bit-
terness peaked a few weeks later when they saw Eberly’s face
on CNN—as a POW. It hurt to see him. To a man, they had all
been more that ready to help out in the rescue effort. Col Bob
Ruth said, “If they [JRCC] had called down and said ‘Hey I need
a 4-ship, can you round up enough people?’ we would have had
people cooking. We had the planes. We had the people. We could
easily have done along those lines without impacting the ATO.
But we were never asked.”182
One of the unit pilots expressed the feelings of most when he
later wrote, “Our DO [director of operations] and backseater
were on the ground for three and a half days in western Iraq.
Nobody would go in and pick them up, and they eventually be-
came prisoners of war. Before the war, the Special Operations
guys came down to talk to us. ‘No sweat,’ they said, ‘we’ll come
and get you anywhere you are.’ That from my perspective was
a big lie. . . . Nobody was going to come and get you.”183
In an after-action report, the 4th Wing commander himself
said:
It seemed to me that the forces running the SAR wanted a perfect situ-
ation. Before they would launch they wanted to know exactly where
they [Eberly and Griffith] were, that they had been authenticated and
on and on. I mean, when we got the tape I had [Lt Col] Slammer Decuir,
Griff’s roommate . . . listen to the tape and verify that it was Griff. But
those guys at JRCC would not take our word for it. So we fly the tape to
Riyadh and they say, finally, “Yep now that we have heard the voice, we
believe what you heard is in fact true.” I mean it was frustrating beyond
belief that we had to prove to others that, yes, there were people out
there who needed to be picked up. What frustrated me the most was
that I couldn’t push the right buttons to get the SAR going. Horner and
Glosson, my bosses, would have broken their necks to get up there, but
they were running the air campaign and had no control over the SAR
effort.184

General Glosson was also frustrated by these events. He and

Captain O’Boyle had some heated discussions about the SOC-
CENT response. O’Boyle repeated that there were places that
helicopters could not safely go. Glosson said,
Randy [O’Boyle] is 100 percent correct on that issue unless I made the
decision I was willing to lose them. If I’m willing to lose them as the com-
mander, I should have the prerogative to send a helicopter or send two
or three, understanding I may lose one of them. That’s my decision. It
should not be someone else’s decision. I am not saying you send people

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into harm’s way just to say you did it. But many times . . . you can as-
sist the CSAR effort with distractions in a way that a helicopter can
sneak in and not have near the exposure. During Desert Storm, AFSOC
[SOCCENT] wanted to look at everything in isolation. They wanted to
say, “Oh, a helicopter can’t get in.” Randy and I had a few conversations
on this. I said, “Randy, stop letting those guys look at this in isolation.
I can make all hell break loose a quarter of a mile from where we want
to pick the pilot up. I can make sure the people on the ground are only
concerned about survival.” Bottom line, you can’t look at CSAR or any-
thing else during a war in isolation.185

Neither Horner nor Glosson could launch the rescue helicop-

ters across the FLOT [forward line of own troops] because Gen-
eral Schwarzkopf had given that responsibility and authority to
the commander of SOCCENT, Col Jesse Johnson. Johnson’s
air commanders, well schooled in the realities of rescue behind
enemy lines, delayed the effort until they felt that their crews
had the best chance of rescuing the men and not being shot down
themselves. It was an unfortunate misunderstanding fueled by
the fog of war. The fighter guys expected to be picked up. For
years, they had heard the motto of the rescue forces, “That
Others May Live.” They knew that the rescue guys would come.
But when the helicopters did not, for reasons that they could
not know or even understand, they lost faith and condemned
those responsible.
Yet, Col George Gray was adamant in his logic. “I wasn’t go-
ing to send guys into a situation where we were automatically
going to lose a helicopter and 5 more guys.”186
At CENTCOM, Colonel Harvell watched all of this and was
dismayed at the attitude of the Air Force officers in their enthu-
siasm to so quickly send the SOF helicopters into such a high-
threat area. He said, “This is an issue of recurring special opera-
tions concern in that non-SOF people have a tendency to commit
special operations forces in unrealistic ways. This is a theme
that the special operations forces guys have got to fight. They
[Air Force] say ‘Send the special operations forces guys.’ It’s not
a special operations forces mission. It’s easy for them to say,
‘Mount up the special operations forces guys and have them do
this.’ They don’t understand what our strengths and weaknesses
are and what we can and cannot do.”187
Concerned about the failure, the commanders in CENTAF
tried to address the problem. Analysis indicated that the PRC-90

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radio used by the crews was clearly inadequate for the conflict.
It had only two frequencies available and was too easily ex-
ploited and compromised by the Iraqis. The newer radio, the
PRC-112, was only available in limited numbers. It had the
ability to load more frequencies and had some discrete homing
capability. Prior to the war, the special operations forces and
the Navy had bought more than a thousand for their troops;
the Air Force had not. Realizing their mistake, the director of
operations for CENTAF sent a message to the Pentagon asking
for some help. Specifically, it asked for:
1. Several hundred of the PRC-112 radios for aircrew use.
2. Modification kits for more homing receivers for helicopters.
(The MH-53s and Navy HH-60s were already modified.)188
Interestingly, the message did not ask for modification kits for
any fighter aircraft, not the F-15s or the Sandy A-10s.
Perhaps a better choice would have been to modify the 72
Block 40 F-16C/Ds, which had GPS. Modified with the DALS,
they could locate survivors by homing on their PRC-112s, then
pass the coordinates from their GPS to the MH-53s for preci-
sion guidance.189
Although never stated explicitly, it seems that these aircraft
were needed for other missions—hunting Scuds and destroying
Republican Guard divisions. As incredible as it seems, the
scheduling of aircraft was extremely tight. As one scheduler
noted at about this time, “With all the aircraft available in-
theater, I found it difficult to believe that we were actually ‘short’
[of available aircraft to strike the Scud sites]. We did, however,
have that problem. With the number of packages and individual
missions scheduled in the ATO, there are, in fact, few unsched-
uled aircraft available.”190
Colonel Ruth and his men were ready to fly, but unlike the
days of the Bengal 505 SAR in Southeast Asia when almost
unlimited sorties were available, there were limits on the num-
ber that could be produced in Desert Storm. Almost every sor-
tie had a designated target as part of the campaign plan.
None of that postmortem helped the crew of Corvette 03. Colo-
nel Eberly and Major Griffith were POWs, and the war went on.

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The strategic immediacy of the hunt for the Scuds continued

to call for the diversion of air assets. There were also Scud
launch boxes in the east, and the Block 40 F-16s, along with
the F-15Es, were diverted to that mission. At times, as many as
four aircraft would maintain an airborne presence over the
sites with up to eight more on ground alert. A-10s were with
them prosecuting the same mission.191
General Glosson had another asset available to him that had
the ability to loiter over an area for long periods of time and
bring great firepower to bear. That was the AC-130 gunships of
the 1st SOW. They had deployed with the other AFSOC forces
in August and September but, unlike other AFSOC assets, they
were being directly fragged by CENTAF. This was a real point of
contention between Col George Gray and the CENTAF com-
manders. Simply put, Colonel Gray was concerned that the
gunships were being given missions for which they were not
suited—specifically, that they were being sent into high-threat
areas where they were too vulnerable.
The AC-130 was a powerful beast. Introduced during the war
in Southeast Asia, it ruled the skies over the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
The North Vietnamese called it the “Thug” and feared only the
B-52s more. With its array of sensors and 20 mm, 40 mm, and
105 mm guns, it could inflict serious damage upon any force or
target. But any C-130 is a big, fat target to enemy guns and
SAMs. Gray did not like the way they were being used.192 This
disagreement added to the disgruntlement building between
the CENTAF officer and the SOCCENT guys.

20 January
During the early morning hours, a small force of British com-
mandos from the Special Air Service (SAS) crossed the Saudi-
Iraqi border into western Iraq. This operation had been recom-
mended to General Schwarzkopf by the commander of the
British forces in the Gulf, Lt Gen Sir Peter de la Billière. Their
initial mission was to harass Iraqi forces in the area, distract the
attention of their leaders, and siphon off forces from elsewhere
in Iraq. On the ground, they began attacking military units,
convoys, and truck traffic along the main east-west highway.
But by the third day, they had been retasked to searching for

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and attacking the Scud sites and missiles. Eventually, this

force would consist of several eight-man teams and four 30-
man teams driving heavily armed four-wheel vehicles and mo-
torcycles.193 Ultimately, 250 SAS troops would be involved.194
One of the teams was inserted near the wreckage of the F-18
flown by Commander Speicher, lost on the first night.195
Procedures were developed for the SAS teams to contact and
direct the F-15Es and A-10s being diverted into the area to at-
tack the Scud sites. It is conceivable that they could also have
been used to recover the crew of Corvette 03, but no records
exist in any unclassified sources that such a mission was ever
contemplated.
The effort to find and kill the Scuds was growing. By 24 Janu-
ary, CENTAF, at the direction of CENTCOM, had diverted 40
percent of its air strikes to the hunt for the Scuds.196
Seeing the insertion of SAS teams into the war, the com-
mander of SOCOM, Gen Carl Stiner, began to lobby for a mis-
sion there for some of his troops. General Schwarzkopf still had
an abiding distrust of commando operations, but after the Is-
raeli government suggested that Israel be allowed to insert
commando teams into western Iraq, Schwarzkopf relented to
Stiner’s request and agreed to a SOCOM task force under his
direct control.197 Meanwhile, the air campaign continued un-
abated, and coalition aircraft began to suffer from the wear and
tear of intense and sustained operations.

I030/M005 – Stamford 11/Tornado, RAF

A Tornado flown by Sqn Ldr Peter Batson and Wg Cdr Mike
Heath had flight control problems upon takeoff.198 The crew jet-
tisoned their bombs and orbited for more than an hour to burn
off fuel for an emergency landing. Continued flight control
problems made a landing impossible, and the crew ejected.
With the assistance of a crewman from HCS-4 using NVGs, a
Royal Saudi helicopter recovered the crew.199
This was not a CSAR, but the JRCC got involved in cases like
this because they had responsibility for rescue throughout the
AOR. Fortunately, the Saudis had an excellent fleet of helicop-
ters that was scattered in detachments throughout the king-
dom. Whenever something happened that required a local

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response, they were the asset of choice. Even in times of war,

these missions occur and must be flown.
In directing the air campaign, the CENTAF commanders had
another problem. The Iraqi Air Force had not reacted as ex-
pected. American planners thought the Iraqis would launch
their fighters to oppose the air assault and be blown away by
the hordes of F-15s and F-14s dispatched to sweep the skies
ahead of the attack aircraft, but this had not happened for sev-
eral reasons. First, bad weather over much of Iraq had slowed
the air campaign. Second, the Iraqis had sent some fighters up
against the coalition, and numerous kills had been logged by
both Air Force and Navy fighters. The Iraqis quickly learned the
lethality of US forces.
After three days, enemy activity had dropped off consider-
ably. The Iraqis seemed to be sheltering their aircraft for some
future use. Still, they needed to be destroyed lest they be used
at some point in a way that could catch the coalition forces off
guard. The answer was to go after them on their airfields and
in their hardened shelters.200

I031/M006 – Slate 46/F-14, USN

The crew of LT Devon Jones and LT Larry Slade launched on
their first combat mission to escort an EA-6B supporting an
early morning strike package hitting the Al Asad Airfield just
west of Baghdad.201 Entering the target area with clouds lay-
ered to above 20,000 feet, the aircraft set up their orbits, and
the EA-6B launched a HARM against a preplanned target.
While holding at the orbit point, Slate 46 was targeted by an
SA-2 missile battery. Jones took evasive action, but the missile
detonated just behind the tail, fatally wounding the aircraft.
The F-14 entered a flat spin. Unable to control it, the crew
ejected at about 0320Z.
As the two aviators floated to the ground, the crew of the EA-
6B notified AWACS and gave their approximate position. Mis-
takenly, the EA-6B crew reported that the downed aircraft was
an A-6. Then the JRCC was told that both an A-6 and an F-14
had gone down. It took some time for the JRCC to determine
that the A-6 in question had diverted to an airfield in Saudi
Arabia, but that the F-14 had, in fact, been downed.

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Descending, Lieutenant Slade took out his PRC-112 survival

radio and made an emergency call. One of the controllers on
AWACS acknowledged it. Lieutenant Jones made an emergency
call on his PRC-90 radio as soon as he reached the ground.202
Upon landing Slade moved quickly away from the wreckage.
He attempted to make several more radio calls. None was an-
swered.203 He had observed his pilot once during the parachute
descent but was unable to hear him on the radio either. The
area was almost perfectly flat and bare. With no place to hide,
he tried to dig a small trench, but the ground was just too hard.
He tried repeatedly to make radio contact with anyone but was
unsuccessful.
About 45 minutes later intelligence reported that Iraqi heli-
copters were apparently in the area looking for the survivors.
The JRCC coordinated with the TACC to get a flight of F-15s
into the area to provide top cover for the survivors. Within min-
utes they were overhead but made no contact with the enemy
helicopters.204
The JRCC contacted SOCCENT and tasked them with the
recovery. Initially, they repeated the erroneous report that both
an A-6 and F-14 were down. SOCCENT passed the missions to
the command center at ArAr, where rescue crews on alert be-
gan mission planning. The SOC commander there, Colonel
Garlington (also commander of the 55th SOS), had MH-60s,
Navy HH-60s, and MH-53s available. He put them on alert in
that order, since the MH-53s had led the mission for Stroke
65. Since it was Navy aircraft reported down, the crews from
HCS-4/5 wanted the missions and began intensively prepar-
ing for them.205
The weather at ArAr was terrible due to fog; visibility was
measured in feet. Neither the MH-60s nor the HH-60s could
safely take off in such low visibility. The MH-53s with better
flight instruments could do so, and the missions were assigned
to them. Capt Mike Kingsley and his crew would fly the A-6
recovery, and Capt Tom Trask and his crew would do the F-14
crew pickup.206
Both crews began intensive preparations. Subsequently,
Kingsley was notified that the report of a downed A-6 was in-
correct. He and his crew went back on alert.

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Photo courtesy of Peter Mersky

The crew of Slate 46, Navy lieutenants Larry Slade and Devon Jones, had their
F-14 shot down while escorting a strike against the Al Asad Airfield west of
Baghdad.

With voice contact established with the pilot Jones, a re-

ported location, and intelligence showing that the area around
the survivors was not high-threat, Moccasin 05 commanded by
Capt Tom Trask took off at 0505Z to recover the two-man crew
of Slate 46.
As they launched, the command center at ArAr notified the
JRCC that their estimated time of arrival at the survivors’ loca-
tion was 0630Z.207 The helicopter lifted off and was immedi-
ately swallowed by the thick fog. Heading north, they flew di-
rectly over an Iraqi outpost just across the border. Within a few
minutes, Trask and his crew began to get warnings that Iraqi
SAM and AAA sites were going active in their area.

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Trask knew that Slade had a PRC-112 radio. On board the

helicopter, his crew had the necessary codes to precisely home
in on his signal if they could get close enough to pick it up, but
it would be hard to do at the extreme low altitudes at which they
needed to fly for protection from the Iraqi guns and SAMs.
The JRCC also had A-10s on alert for CSAR at King Fahd and
KKMC. That morning two pilots, Capt Paul Johnson and 1st Lt
Randy Goff, were slated to take off from King Fahd to fly to
KKMC and assume alert as Sandy 57 and 58. They were de-
layed for a short while waiting for the morning fog to dissipate.
Getting airborne they were instructed to contact AWACS for
divert to Slate 46. After working their way through thick clouds
and around thunderstorms, they were able to rendezvous with
a KC-135 tanker to top off their fuel and then check in with the
AWACS.208
Based upon the estimate from Moccasin 05, the JRCC coor-
dinated with AWACS to divert more F-15s and two flights of
A-10s—call signs Springfield 17 and 18—and Sandy 57 and 58
into the area to fly CAP for the helicopter. Below, Trask followed
the best spider route into the area. AWACS gave them threat
warnings as necessary as they moved ever deeper into Iraq.
Thirty minutes into the flight, the clouds started to thin a little.
Visibility was improving, and they were able to see the ground.
The terrain was barren and almost completely flat.
Inbound to the reported positions of the two men, Trask re-
ceived a warning from AWACS that Iraqi MiGs had taken off
and were heading toward his aircraft. Trask was holding just
below a low deck of clouds. He descended and hovered his he-
licopter inside a wadi to take advantage of whatever conceal-
ment it offered. AWACS called that the bandits were passing
directly overhead and immediately vectored F-15s against the
intruders, who prudently fled. Neither Trask nor his crew ever
saw them, but when the threat was clear, he resumed his low-
altitude route.209
Then AWACS reported that four Iraqi helicopters had taken
off from a nearby airfield and were heading toward them. At one
point, the enemy helicopters were broadcasting on the emer-
gency frequencies saying, “This is rescue, American pilot; this
is rescue, come up voice.”210

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The enemy helicopters did not concern Trask since he was

sure he could defeat them in an air-to-air engagement. Before
he could confront them, they turned around and landed back
at their airfield.
Approaching the reported area of the survivors, the crew of
Moccasin 05 began searching for the two men below and the
F-15s above. They could not establish contact with either. An
EA-6B that was part of the original strike package was still or-
biting in the area and reported that the survivors were actually
50 miles north and that the initial coordinates reported by
AWACS were terribly inaccurate. This caused some discussion
between Trask and his crew and the headquarters at ArAr as
they pressed SOCCENT for location data on the survivors.
The terrain in the area was almost completely flat. To avoid
the enemy defenses as much as possible, Captain Trask kept
his aircraft low and pressed on. The weather had cleared out
considerably, and the visibility was now about 30 miles. The
crew could not see any enemy activity or even any settlements
nearby and felt relatively safe.
Flight at low altitude, though, reduced the range for the he-
licopter crews to hear the survivors’ emergency radios. After
searching unsuccessfully for 25 minutes, Moccasin 05 turned
for home base. As it was leaving, one of the A-10 pilots in
Springfield flight contacted Trask and reported that he thought
he had made radio contact with a survivor. Trask returned to
the area, but this effort was also unsuccessful, and Moccasin
05 had to return to ArAr for fuel.211
At approximately 0730Z, Lieutenant Slade spotted a white
Datsun truck. Inside were two civilians, both armed with rifles.
They saw Slade and took him prisoner.212 He was not able to
communicate to the rescue forces that he had been captured.
Consequently, the rescuers remained on the lookout for any-
thing that might signal the status of Lieutenant Slade.
Lieutenant Jones never heard his mate on the radio. He also
moved away from the burning wreckage, initially east, and then
northwest. He observed many tire and foot tracks. Walking for
quite a while, he finally found a small mound that afforded
some protection. Not too far away was a small wadi with a blue
water tank. Using his knife, he dug a small trench in the hard
ground and tried to cover himself as best he could.

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Remembering what the rescue briefers had said, he did not

expect a rescue attempt until night. At about the same time
that Slade was being taken captive, Jones watched a small
truck pull up to the tank. He sprinkled sand on himself to try
to conceal his dark flight suit and boots. A few minutes later
the truck drove off. Relaxing a little, Jones noticed a black scor-
pion crawling on his sleeve. He jumped out of his hiding place,
flung the scorpion to the ground, and killed it.
High above, the AWACS controller working the mission in-
structed Sandy 57 and 58 to proceed directly to the survivors’
estimated position. As they approached, the controller told
them that the rescue helicopter had been unable to locate the
survivors and had returned to base for fuel. He also gave them
new instructions to head southeast and search for some sus-
pected Scud missiles. Assuming that the CSAR had been ter-
minated, they reluctantly complied. After 90 minutes of fruit-
less Scud searching, they rendezvoused with a KC-10 and took
on another load of fuel. They checked back in with the AWACs,
fully expecting to be sent home, but were diverted back to the
CSAR effort.
Captain Johnson acknowledged his instructions and once
again turned his flight north. As they flew into the estimated area,
Johnson began calling on the radio, “Slate 46, this is Sandy 57.”
Jones had been calling on his PRC-90 radio at the top of ev-
ery hour. None of his calls had been acknowledged, but when
he called at 0905, Capt Paul Johnson answered. With voice con-
tact, Johnson could steer to Jones’ radio. The bearing he was
receiving indicated that Jones was north. Johnson followed the
bearing and began to close the distance. As his navigation gear
indicated he was close to the survivor, Johnson asked Jones if
he could hear an A-10. When Jones replied negatively, Johnson
started a descent through the clouds. Eventually, Jones could
hear the aircraft and began to give vectors to his location. To aid
the process, the pilot expended a bright flare. Jones saw the
flare and then the aircraft and directed Johnson right over his
position. As he passed overhead, Johnson locked the position
into his INS, quickly scanned the area for visual cues, and climbed
back above the clouds. Anticipating rescue, Jones described his
location to the pilots overhead.

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Photo courtesy of Peter Mersky

1st Lt Randy Goff and Capt P. J. Johnson, Sandy 57, played a major role in the
safe recovery of LT Devon Jones.

All of this was being broadcast on open frequencies.213 Iraqi

forces in the area monitored the conversation and began to react.
Down south at ArAr, Trask and his crew had landed and
were refueling with engines running and blades turning. They
had been instructed to take off and fly to Al Jouf so that they
could get some rest and the aircraft could receive mainte-
nance, but sitting in the refueling pits they monitored the
emergency rescue radio frequencies. They heard Johnson talk-
ing to the survivor. The AWACS controllers also heard the con-
versation. Trask again checked with the operations center there
and with AWACS. Kingsley with his crew and a fully fueled
MH-53 were also at ArAr. The weather was now clear. Colonel
Garlington still intended to use the Navy HH-60s from HCS

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4/5 on the next CSAR launch. But Trask and his crew had
been into Iraq and generally knew the situation. Moccasin 05
was cleared to go. Kingsley was instructed to fly wingman as
Moccasin 04.
Trask and crew were airborne moments later with Moccasin
04 on their wing. Northbound, they listened to Captain John-
son talk to Jones. They could not hear his responses, but from
what they were hearing, it seemed that Johnson had located
the survivor. Unfortunately, as the two helicopters approached
the reported location, the Sandys reported that they were once
again low on gas and had to depart to find a tanker. Trask was
in no mood to delay. “Just give me the survivor’s location,” he
shouted. They were on a non-secure frequency, but Johnson
was able to use a secure means to pass the coordinates as de-
termined by his INS. He also gave it to the AWACS, told Jones
to come back up on his radio in 30 minutes, and headed south
for some gas.
Johnson proceeded back toward Saudi Arabia looking for a
tanker. AWACS found another KC-10 for them, but it was 150
miles away. Johnson immediately asked the controller to turn
the tanker north since they were low on fuel. The tanker did so
and actually rendezvoused with them 30 miles inside Iraq.
While the Sandys were refueling, the AWACS began assembling
more F-16s and A-10s to support the operation as necessary.
Trask and his crew plotted the location of the survivor as
reported by Johnson on their map and loaded the coordinates
into their GPS. That gave them a pretty good idea of the overall
situation. They realized that the survivor was actually much
farther north than they had planned. In fact, he was north of
the main east-west highway from Baghdad to Jordan. That line
was the de facto dividing line between the rescue forces in Saudi
Arabia and the forces in Turkey. Additionally, the road itself
was considered to be dangerous. The crew knew what that
meant, but they decided to press on.214
They used their long-range radio to report their progress to
SOCCENT and their intention to cross the road. Trask felt that
if they just acted as if they belonged there, nobody would bother
them, but he did instruct Kingsley to hold south of the road as
they split off and continued north. Crossing the road, they

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spotted heavy truck traffic, but nobody stopped or appeared to

fire at them.
Suddenly, the AWACS reported that a Roland SAM site di-
rectly in front of them was active. They plotted the reported
location of the dangerous missile site on their map and realized
that it was right over the survivor’s reported location. Their in-
telligence study of the Iraqi weapons let the crew know exactly
how close they could get to the site before they were in danger,
especially at the extreme low altitudes at which they were fly-
ing. Trask meticulously kept them on course. They began to get
indications on their radar-warning receiver that the Roland
site was tracking them. As they pressed on, they spotted the
site sitting in the desert. The AWACS controllers began shout-
ing at them to turn to the east. Intent on finding Lieutenant
Jones, they pressed in as close as they felt they safely could
and then turned east. The whole time the Roland site tracked
them but did not fire. They flew off to the east until the Roland
was no longer in sight, deciding that the prudent action at this
point was to wait for the return of the A-10s.
A few minutes later Captain Johnson and his wingman re-
turned and recontacted the rescue crew. Trask reported that
they were in the vicinity of the survivor. “No you are not,” John-
son replied. He was back over the survivor’s location according
to his INS and he could not see the helicopter. Trask assumed
that after eight hours of flight, the INS in Johnson’s A-10 had
probably drifted and asked him to give them a long radio trans-
mission so, they could get a bearing on the location of the A-10s.
Johnson did so, and Trask was able to get a bearing that fa-
cilitated their rendezvous.
Spotting the helicopter, Johnson and his wingman dropped
down to about 1,500 feet and proceeded to fly the standard
daisy-chain pattern around them to give what protection they
could from enemy guns and SAMs. By now they also had F-
15s just above to dissuade any Iraqi pilot from attacking the
task force.
Johnson recontacted Jones, who now sensed that rescue
was near. The volume of chatter on the radio steadily increased.
At one point, as the F-15s started asking for mundane informa-
tion on the same frequency, Johnson told everybody except

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Sandy, Moccasin, and Slate 46 to get off. It worked, and John-

son had only the right players on the frequency.215
Then Jones saw the helicopter. He recalled, “For the first time,
I looked to the east and saw the Pave Low, about five feet off of
the ground. I started talking to him. I have never seen such a
beautiful sight as that big brown American H-53 [sic].”216
Jones started giving them vectors. Trask was also homing in
on his radio signal. Unfortunately, Iraqi forces in the area were
homing in on the signal as well. The left gunner on Moccasin
05 spotted two Iraqi army trucks heading directly toward the
survivor from the west. Trask called to the A-10s, “We’ve got
movers approaching from our 11 o’clock.”
Johnson responded, “What do you want me to do?”
Trask’s copilot, Maj Mike Homan replied, “Smoke the trucks!
Smoke the trucks!”
The A-10s immediately set up an attack pattern. Johnson
rolled in first and just missed the lead truck. His wingman then
rolled in and hit the truck with numerous rounds of 30 mm
fire. Johnson rolled in again and did the same. The second
truck turned around and rapidly left the area.
Trask immediately refocused on the survivor. “Where is he?” he
yelled. Johnson replied, “Just land next to the burning truck.”
Trask continued inbound. About 500 meters out, he saw
Jones stand up. Trask went into a landing flare and set the
helicopter down between Jones and the truck, calling to his
crew on the intercom that the survivor was at “one o’clock to
the airplane and fifty feet.” Then he cleared the two PJs to leave
the aircraft and get Jones. They were back on board in about
30 seconds. When the PJs reported that they were secure,
Trask lifted off and headed south. The A-10s again fell into a
daisy-chain above the helicopter for protection.
As Trask headed south, he saw the other MH-53 coming at
him. Captain Kingsley had heard all the action and decided to
proceed to the area to see if he could help.
Trask was taken by surprise. “What are you doing here?” he
shouted.
“I couldn’t stand it any more,” Kingsley replied and brought
his helicopter into formation with Trask.217
But they were not yet home safe. They still had to re-cross the
main highway. Johnson asked Trask if he wanted to find a quiet

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spot and try to slip across or if he wanted the A-10s to blast

their way across. Trask chose the first option. The Sandys did a
quick road reconnaissance, found a quiet spot, and guided the
helicopters across uneventfully. Once they were well south and
over benign terrain, Johnson split from the rescue birds and
went looking, again, for a tanker. He found the same KC-10 that
had refueled them the last time and took on another full load of
gas. He and his wingman returned to King Fahd Air Base. They
had logged over nine hours on the flight—and had the satisfac-
tion of knowing that their efforts had been successful.218
Settling down for the long ride home, the crew of Moccasin
05 quickly did some fuel computations and determined that an
in-flight refueling might make sense for them, too. They con-
tacted the SOCCENT command center and discussed sending
one of the HC- or MC-130 tankers up along the spider route to
refuel them. A tanker was launched and orbited along the Saudi
border for them, but refueling was not needed. In fact they had
enough gas to fly on to Al Jouf. There, Lieutenant Jones was
given a quick checkup and returned to his ship. Captain Trask
and his crew got some rest and then reported for their next
mission.

***

Colonel Comer was elated at the success of his men. They

had expected to do their recoveries at night and alone, but this
mission showed that they had the tactical flexibility to adapt to
a daytime effort as part of a larger task force. But he had other
concerns. He sensed that there was a serious flaw or deficiency
in their overall capacity to do CSAR. It had to do with locating
the survivors and had two dimensions:
1. The bad initial coordinates relayed from AWACS indicated
that they could not accurately locate survivors as promised.
Comer said, “We thought that if a survivor was transmitting,
AWACS or Rivet Joint [RC-135] would be able to give us a
coordinate on the survivor within five miles. That is what
they were telling us. But, thirty miles was more realistic.
Especially from where their orbits were.”
2. The navigational devices used by the various coalition air-
craft were not necessarily compatible. He added:

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We did launch to a coordinate. And the coordinate for Devon Jones was
more than 30 miles off. . . . We didn’t have the technology on our people
who might be survivors to know their location. We had GPS. But GPS
was brand new. We didn’t understand that it changed the world. That it
changed how you fly. That it changed where you fly. We did not know
that yet. . . . So we [MH-53s] virtually knew where we were all the time.
And that was new, that had never happened before.
These maps, as pretty as they are, were not worth a ding-dong. There
are things on this map that are not there. There are things that are ob-
viously there that are not on the map. And things that are on the map
are not necessarily correct. These are just estimations because the
Iraqis and Saudis do not allow people to go out there and survey to the
point of making accurate maps.
Now we can do it by satellite, we can map things accurately. But before
this, we had vast expanses of the world that were not mapped. We did
not know that coordinates were different. The WGS-84 coordinates that
you are getting on the GPS are different if you just read a map. . . . You
could be 5 or 8 miles off if you use the wrong kind of coordinate. . . .
Those were all things that we didn’t know. And GPS was so new that we
didn’t know that it would change everything. Virtually no one, well the
Pave Lows did have it. But nobody else had an integrated navigation
system built around GPS. Ours was the first. And the J-model MH-53s
were less than a year old. And nobody was in a hurry because this con-
stellation [of navigation satellites] wasn’t going to be up until 1993.
But DESERT SHIELD happened and Space Command got involved and
. . . started shooting all those satellites up there and then everybody is
screaming, “Give me my GPS modification.” It was too late for most.
That is why the Apaches needed us at the beginning of the war. . . . We
were dealing with coordinates from somebody who was flying out there
and doing acrobatics dodging missiles with an INS or Doppler, [which is
why] his coordinate wasn’t going to be close to where that person was
on our GPS. We didn’t know that. We thought that . . . we should just
be able to fly to it and be able to hover above the guy and be able to drop
the hoist down through the fog and pick him up. We didn’t know.219

This was a serious deficiency, because quickly and accurately

locating a survivor was fundamental to the CSAR process. In
this case, though, the iron determination of the rescue crews
in the ad hoc task force prevailed and brought Lieutenant
Jones home.

I033 – Ghost 02/AC-130, USAF

The battle against the Scuds continued.220 Against the advice
and wishes of Colonel Gray, CENTAF started using the AC-130
gunships on the mission. Gray felt that the large, lumbering
aircraft were much too vulnerable to Iraqi defenses and contin-
ued to argue that they be more limited in their use. He was

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overruled by Glosson and Horner, and the CENTAF/SOCCENT

schism deepened.
Working over western Iraq, Ghost 02 with a crew of 13 was
engaged sequentially by SA-6 and SA-8 missile batteries. In
evading missiles fired by each, the pilot severely overstressed
the airframe and engines. He declared an emergency and re-
turned to base. Extensive repairs were necessary. The aircraft
did not fly combat again for four weeks.221
This confirmed Colonel Gray’s fears. He was convinced that
the AC-130s were being pushed into areas that were too dan-
gerous. He tried again to regain control over them.222

***

In response to the intensity and effectiveness of the aerial op-

erations to date, General Schwarzkopf declared that afternoon
that the coalition had attained air superiority over Iraq.223 Doc-
trinally, air superiority is defined as, “that degree of dominance
in the air battle of one force over another which permits the
conduct of operations by the former and its related land, sea,
and air forces at a given time and place without prohibitive in-
terference by the opposing force.”224 Obviously, General Schwarz-
kopf felt that his airmen had seized control of the skies over
Kuwait and Iraq and could pretty much do as they pleased.
General Horner was not so sanguine. To him, air superiority
was not cut and dried. He wrote,
Air superiority is not a precise concept. And the process of gaining it is
no less fuzzy. What do you mean by air superiority and how do you
know when you’ve got it? There is no handy chart that lets you plot the
x- and y-axes and find where the two lines cross. . . . Free operation
over Iraq raises other issues. For starters, not every aircraft could be
expected to go everywhere. Or if it could go everywhere, it might not be
able to go there all the time.225

This was how Colonel Gray at SOCCENT felt about his rescue
forces. Regardless of the declaration of air superiority by General
Schwarzkopf, Colonel Gray, as the commander who ultimately
had to determine when and when not to send in his helicopters,
instinctively knew that there were places in-theater where his
recovery crews could not go at a reasonable level of risk.

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To further weaken the Iraqi Air Force, the F-111s of the 48th
TFW began attacking the hardened shelters on the airfields the
next day. They would maintain this subcampaign for the next
week, and it would consume 60 percent of the total sorties they
flew. The effort ultimately led to the destruction of 63 percent
of all of the shelters in Iraq and the aircraft, equipment, and
troops inside.
In response, the Iraqi Air Force did two things. First, its pi-
lots began flying their aircraft to Iran, where they were im-
pounded for the duration of the war. Second, they began park-
ing their aircraft next to holy sites, betting that the coalition
would not risk damaging the sites in attacks against the air-
craft. Both were desperate measures. The practical result was
the same—as a fighting force, the Iraqi Air Force was not a fac-
tor in the war.226 While air superiority could be claimed, there
were still plenty of SAMs and AAA that had to be dealt with,
especially by helicopters.
That evening, the British forces inserted three more SAS
teams into western Iraq. Two of the teams, Bravo 10 and 30,
were immediately extracted because their drop sites were too
dangerous. The third team, Bravo 20, was inserted about 20
miles southeast of Al Qāim. Knowing that the Iraqis expected
the coalition commanders to try to rescue their downed air-
crews, the team prepared a cover story that they were a CSAR
team looking for downed airmen.227
Unfortunately, the men of Bravo 20 were spotted the next
day by local tribesmen. Unable to contact rescue forces by ra-
dio, the eight-man team had to evade. The Brits asked Colonel
Comer to launch some MH-53s to recover the men, but while
they were planning the mission, it was cancelled. Later one
MH-53 and a British CH-47 were launched, but search efforts
were unsuccessful. Eventually, three of the men were killed,
four were captured, and one man evaded by walking almost
200 miles into Syria.228
Concerned for their lost comrades, many of the SAS troops
felt the same frustrations as the men of the 4th Wing. The sur-
vivor, Chris Ryan, noted that “When the patrol went missing,
tremendous pressure built up among the rank and file of the
squadron to mount a rescue operation; volunteers were deter-
mined to make a box search. When the CO [commanding offi-

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

cer] refused to commit one of his precious few helicopters im-

mediately to the task, some of the guys were on the verge of
mutiny. But middle and senior management saw that, in the
circumstances, the CO was right to delay the launch until the
patrol’s situation became clearer.”229

22 January
That morning Marine major John Steube arrived in Riyadh
for duty in the JRCC. He was one of the augmentees requested
by Colonel Hampton. A career helicopter pilot, he had recently
been the commander of a small search and rescue detachment
at Beaufort, South Carolina. After the necessary briefings from
the JRCC staff, he made contact with the Marine Tactical Air
Control Center and assumed his duties as a Marine liaison of-
ficer and duty officer in the JRCC. He felt inadequate since his
career had, to this point, been focused on peacetime recovery.
He also noted that none of the Air Force personnel in the JRCC
had had any specific training in combat rescue. It made him
feel a little uneasy. Eventually, the JRCC was also augmented
with two Navy officers. Both were career P-3 long-range mari-
time patrol pilots and had no experience with combat rescue
operations.230

I035 – Stamford 01/Tornado, RAF

Eight Tornadoes launched a massive attack against the Ar
Rutbah radar site in western Iraq with 1,000-pound bombs.231
Flt Lts Garry Lennox and Kevin Weeks, both on loan from one
of the RAF units in Germany, were hit while attempting to loft
their bombs. The wingman reported a crash and fireball. No
parachutes were sighted, and no beacon or voice was ever heard.
Flights working in the area continued to listen for them. Both
men had been killed.232
Returning to their base, the Brit pilots had to follow a tradi-
tion. They went to the rooms of the two lost men and collected
all of their personal liquor. Then they took it into the squadron
bar and drank it as a toast to the lost men. One of them ratio-
nalized later, “If you go to war people are going to be killed. It’s
one of those facts that you have to accept.”233

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

I036 – Magic 11/AV-8, USMC

1st Lt Manuel Rivera stationed aboard the USS Nassau was
killed when he crashed near Masirah, Oman.234 A US Navy he-
licopter recovered his body.235

23 January
The F-111s continued to hammer the Iraqi Air Force shelters
using laser-guided bombs. They eventually destroyed 141 Iraqi
aircraft.236

I038/M008 – Wolf 01/F-16, USAF

This aircraft from the 614th TFS was the lead aircraft in a
flight of four fragged for an interdiction target near Kuwait
City.237 Immediately after it dropped its bombs, the aircraft
burst into flames. The pilot, Maj Jon Ball, was able to glide out
over the Persian Gulf before ejecting. The orbiting AWACS
monitored his Mayday call and notified the JRCC, who tasked
the mission to the US Navy. The Navy RCC launched an SH-60,
call sign Spade 50, from HSL-44. It was stationed aboard the
USS Nicholas, on combat recovery duty in the northern Gulf
area. Two USMC AV-8s were diverted to provide escort. Locat-
ing the survivor, the helicopter dropped two SEALs who res-
cued the pilot.238
Returning to their base, the pilots in Wolf flight reviewed the
mission to determine what shot down Wolf 01. None of the other
flight members could recall any active SAM indications or AAA
airbursts or tracers. One of the flight members had happened
to turn on his HUD (heads-up display) recording device and
had filmed Wolf 01 releasing his bombs. The film clearly showed
one of its MK 84 2,000-pound bombs detonating just under the
aircraft. The fragmentation pattern from the bomb enveloped
the aircraft and brought it down.
On that mission, the MK 84 bombs were loaded with special
electronic FMU-139 fuses. In investigating the incident, the
squadron determined that an “anomaly” had been discovered
in the operational testing by the producer of the fuse, Motorola,
but any mention of this problem had been excluded from the

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

weapons manuals for the F-16s. The 614th TFS did not use
any more FMU-139 fuses in Desert Storm.239
The CENTCOM search and rescue plan gave the Navy re-
sponsibility for recovery over the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.
Allied aircrews were briefed that if they were near the water
when hit, they were to go “feet wet” to vastly increase the odds
of a successful rescue. The reason was obvious—the US Navy
controlled the seas. That procedure facilitated a successful res-
cue for Major Ball.
In reviewing the significant actions of the last few days, Colo-
nel Gray at SOCCENT felt that he again needed to clarify his
requirements for recovery efforts. He sent a message to all units
and pointed out that the most significant problem was getting
good coordinates on the survivors. He again explained that his
helicopter forces had to fly below 100 feet to survive in Iraq and
Kuwait. That limited line-of-sight radio contact. Prudently, his
helicopters could not loiter for more than a few minutes in the
target area. His forces were dedicated to doing everything pos-
sible to make a speedy recovery, but the key to the whole pro-
cess was in quickly getting the best possible coordinates.240
The special operations forces guys were more than willing to
be the recovery platform. They just could not, in this high-
threat arena, provide the “S” in CSAR. Others had to do it for
them. And CENTAF controlled most of the assets to do that.

Notes
1. William L. Smallwood, Warthog: Flying the A-10 in the Gulf War (Wash-
ington, DC: Brassey’s Press, 1993), 80.
2. Ibid.
3. Al Santoli, Leading the Way, How Vietnam Veterans Rebuilt the U.S.
Military: An Oral History (New York: Ballantine Books, 1993), 205.
4. William F. Andrews, US Air Force Academy oral history interview, Colo-
rado Springs, CO, 25 September 1991.
5. Capt Gerry Stophel, interview by the author, 21 February 2002; and 1st
Lt Jeff Mase, interview by the author, 9 April 2001. The beer was never deliv-
ered. The reason was simple: Gen Buster C. Glosson was given a direct order
by GEN Norman Schwarzkopf not to do it. Glosson hears about it to this day.
Gen Buster C. Glosson, interview by the author, 25 September 2002.
6. Charles Allen, Thunder and Lightning: The RAF in the Gulf: Personal
Experiences of War (London, UK: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1991), 57.
7. Capt Randy O’Boyle, interview by the author, 20 March 2000.

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

8. Jay A. Stout, Hornets over Kuwait (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute

Press, 1997), 63–65.
9. CPT John Walsh, interview by the author, 6 October 2000.
10. Mase, interview.
11. Glosson, interview.
12. LT Rick Scudder, interview by the author, 29 July 2002.
13. Ibid.
14. LT Jeff Zaun, interview by the author, 17 March 2002.
15. Capt Scott Fitzsimmons, interview by the author, 28 February 2002.
16. Tom Clancy with Gen Chuck Horner, Every Man a Tiger (New York: G.
P. Putnam’s Sons, 1999), 333.
17. Operation Proven Force, “LCDR Speicher Case,” http://www.nation
alalliance.org/gulf/intel.htm. (n.d.).
18. Stan Morse, ed., “Gulf Air War Debrief, (GAWD),” World Air Power Jour-
nal (London: Aerospace Publishing, 1991), 118.
19. Lt Col Joe Hampton, interview by the author, 12 March 2000.
20. Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor, The Generals’ War: The Inside
Story of the Conflict in the Gulf (New York: Little, Brown and Co., 1995), 200.
21. Ibid., 201.
22. Perry D. Jamieson, Lucrative Targets, The U.S. Air Force in the Kuwaiti
Theater of Operations (Washington, DC: Air Force History and Museums Pro-
gram, US Government Printing Office (G. P. O.), 2001), 40.
23. Amy W. Yarsinske, No One Left Behind, The Lt. Cdr. Michael Scott
Speicher Story (New York: Dutton, 2002), 6.
24. Ibid., 7.
25. Scudder, interview.
26. Yarsinske, No One Left Behind, 38.
27. Zaun, interview.
28. Yarsinske, No One Left Behind, 38.
29. Sherman Baldwin, Ironclaw: A Navy Pilot’s Gulf War Experience (New
York: William Morrow, 1996), 141.
30. Ibid., 140.
31. Edward Marolda and Robert Schneller Jr., Shield and Sword (Wash-
ington, DC: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, 1998), 172.
32. Baldwin, Ironclaw, 147.
33. Marolda and Schneller, Shield and Sword, 167.
34. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 122.
35. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 207; and LCDR Neil Kinnear, in-
terview by the author, 24 March 2001.
36. History of the Air Force Special Operations Command [hereafter AFSOC
History], Hurlburt Field, FL, 1 January 1990–31 December 1991, 86.
37. Kinnear, interview.
38. Rick Atkinson, Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War (Bos-
ton, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1993), 32.
39. H. Norman Schwarzkopf with Peter Petre, It Doesn’t Take a Hero (New
York: Bantam Books, 1992), 414.
40. History Channel, Helicopters, 1991.

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

41. Kinnear, interview.

42. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 214.
43. Allen, Thunder and Lightning, 54.
44. Kinnear, interview.
45. Marolda and Schneller, Shield and Sword, 175.
46. Clancy with Horner, Every Man a Tiger, 352.
47. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 214.
48. Joint Personnel Recovery Agency, Fort Belvoir, VA, USCENTAF/JRCC
Incident/Mission Log, DS box, n.d., [hereafter USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/
Mission Log].
49. E-mail from Russ Hunter, 26 November 2002.
50. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
51. Message, JRCC A/R 180630Z January 1991; Thomas A. Keaney and
Eliot A. Cohen, Gulf War Air Power Survey (GWAPS) vol. 5, pt. 2, Summary
(Washington, DC: US G.P.O., 1993), 160; and Hunter, e-mail.
52. Edward Herlick, Separated by War: An Oral History by Desert Storm
Fliers and Their Families (Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Tab Aero Press, 1994), 33.
53. Yarsinske, No One Left Behind, 18.
54. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
55. Yarsinske, No One Left Behind, 192.
56. Ibid., 30.
57. Ibid.
58. Ibid., 34–40.
59. Center for Naval Analysis (CNA), “Desert Storm Reconstruction Re-
port, Volume II: Strike Warfare” (Arlington, VA: October, 1991), 5-43, 5-57;
and GAWD, 226.
60. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 222.
61. Ibid., 223.
62. Marolda and Schneller, Shield and Sword, 208.
63. AFSOC History, 88.
64. Clancy with Horner, Every Man a Tiger, 547.
65. Yarsinske, No One Left Behind, 37.
66. Capt Tom Trask, interview by the author, 16 February 2000.
67. Yarsinske, No One Left Behind, 41. In 2001 Pres. Bill Clinton
changed the status of the pilot, LCDR Michael Speicher, to MIA. See http://
www.nationalalliance.org/gulf/intel.htm.
68. Allen, Thunder and Lightning, 52.
69. Williamson Murray with Wayne Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf
(Baltimore, MD: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1996),
121.
70. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
71. GAWD, 227; and John Peters and John Nichol, Tornado Down (Lon-
don, UK: Penguin Books, 1993), 107.
72. Yarsinske, No One Left Behind, 37.
73. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 220.
74. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
75. Message, JRCC A/R 180630Z January 1991; and GWAPS, 160.

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

76. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.

77. Operation Proven Force, “LCDR Speicher Case,” http://www.nation
alalliance.org/gulf/intel.htm. (n.d.).
78. Col George Gray, interview by the author, 3 May 2001.
79. Capt Steve Otto, interview by the author, 30 April 2001.
80. Capt Grant Harden, interview by the author, 2 May 2001.
81. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
82. GAWD, 227; and Allen, Thunder and Lightning, 57.
83. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
84. Hampton, interview; GAWD, 226; and Herlick, Separated by War, 98.
85. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
86. Robert Dorr, “POWs in Iraq Survived Thanks to Training, Courage,
Faith,” Naval Aviation News, May–June 1991, 6.
87. Zaun, interview.
88. Ibid.
89. Yarsinske, No One Left Behind, 98.
90. CNA, “Desert Storm Reconstruction,” 5–43; and GAWD, 226.
91. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 137.
92. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
93. GAWD, 227; and Gray, interview.
94. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 229.
95. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
96. Marine Corps Historical Center, Washington, DC, 3d Marine Air Wing
Command, VMO-2, Squadron history for the period 1 January–28 February
1991, [hereafter VMO-2].
97. Cynthia B. Acree with Lt Col Cliff M. Acree, The Gulf between Us: Love
and Terror in Desert Storm (Washington, DC: Brassey’s Press, 2000), 13.
98. Ibid., 18.
99. Ibid., 20.
100. CNA, “Desert Storm Reconstruction,” 5–57.
101. Tom Clancy with Gen Carl Stiner, Shadow Warriors (New York: G. P.
Putnam’s Sons, 2002), 111.
102. Col John Bioty Jr., interview by the author, 6 January 2000.
103. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
104. Ibid.
105. LTC Pete Harvell, interview by the author, 29 January 2002.
106. Peter Hunt, Angles of Attack, an A-6 Intruder Pilot’s War (New York:
Ballantine Books, 2002), 237.
107. CNA, “Desert Storm Reconstruction,” 5–48, 5–57; and GAWD, 226.
108. Harvell, interview.
109. Marolda and Schneller, Shield and Sword, 181.
110. Ibid., 183.
111. Ibid., 194.
112. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
113. GAWD, 225.
114. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 139.
115. Ibid., 140.

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

116. Scudder, interview.

117. Michael R. Rip and James M. Hasik, The Precision Revolution: GPS and
the Future of Aerial Warfare (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2002), 147.
118. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 156.
119. Ibid., 150.
120. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
121. History of the 614th Tactical Fighter Squadron in Desert Shield/Des-
ert Storm, 29 August 1990–29 March 1991 [hereafter 614 TFS History], His-
torical Research Agency (HRA), Maxwell AFB, AL.
122. Capt Paul Harmon, interview by author, 16 February 2000.
123. Ibid.
124. From TSgt Ray Cooper, 1723d Special Tactics Squadron: Alert log
notes for 19–20 January 1991 (Stroke 65 Mission).
125. Jeff Tice to Paul Harmon, letter, 12 November 1991.
126. Harmon, interview.
127. Lt Col Richard Comer, interview by author, 19 July 2000.
128. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
129. Harry M. Roberts, US Air Force Academy oral history interview, 30
August 1991.
130. History, 614 TFS.
131. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 161.
132. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
133. Ibid.
134. GAWD, 227; Allen, Thunder and Lightning, 80; e-mails from Flt Lt Mary
Hudson, RAF/AHB, 21, 23, and 27 March 2006; and http://www.raf.mod.uk/
gulf/loss.html.
135. Glosson, interview.
136. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 164.
137. Schwarzkopf with Petre, It Doesn’t Take a Hero, 416.
138. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 169.
139. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
140. Dave Eberly, e-mail to author, 14 April 2002.
141. Rick Atkinson, Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War
(Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1993), 126.
142. Ibid.
143. Hampton, interview.
144. Ibid.
145. “Desert Storm, Final Report to Congress: Conduct of the Persian Gulf
War, 1991,” Military History Magazine (Charlottesville, VA: Howell Press, April
1992), 177; and Capt William LeMenager, HQ SOCOM, “A Gulf War Chronicle,”
unpublished manuscript, January 1998.
146. Gray, interview.
147. Capt Matt Shozda, interview by the author, 12 September 2002.
148. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 258.
149. Ibid., 259; O’Boyle, interview; Hampton, interview; and Comer, inter-
view.
150. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 258.

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151. Time sequence for Corvette 03.

152. Harvell, interview.
153. O’Boyle, interview.
154. Col Ben Orrell, interview by the author, 17 January 2002.
155. Lt Col Bob Ruth, interview by the author, 24 March 2001.
156. Ibid.
157. Lt Col Ed Houle, interview by the author, 28 March 2001.
158. Time sequence for Corvette 03.
159. Ibid.
160. William L. Smallwood, Strike Eagle: Flying the F-15E in the Gulf War
(Washington, DC: Brassey’s Press, 1994), 124.
161. Ibid., 123.
162. Hampton, interview.
163. Smallwood, Strike Eagle, 124.
164. O’Boyle, interview.
165. Hampton, interview.
166. Otto, interview.
167. Ibid.
168. Ibid.
169. Benjamin Schemmer, “No USAF Combat Rescue in Gulf; It Took 72
Hours to Launch One Rescue,” Armed Forces International, July 1991, 37.
170. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 259.
171. Hampton, interview.
172. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 260; and History of the 4th Wing,
HRA (Maxwell AFB, AL: January–December 1991), 77.
173. Shozda, interview; and Lt Col J. D. Clem, e-mail to author, 13 April
2004.
174. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 261; Otto, interview; and J. D.
Clem, e-mail.
175. Harden, interview.
176. Stovall, interview.
177. Harden, interview.
178. Otto, interview; and Harden, interview.
179. Shozda, interview.
180. Otto, interview; and Steve Otto, e-mail to author, 2 March 2004.
181. Capt Greg Lynch, interview by author, 2 June 2003; and LeMenager,
HQ SOCOM, “A Gulf War Chronicle,” January 1998.
182. Ruth, interview.
183. Clancy with Horner, Every Man a Tiger, 410.
184. Smallwood, Strike Eagle, 123.
185. Glosson, interview.
186. Gray, interview.
187. Harvell, interview.
188. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 262.
189. GAWD, 194.
190. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 172.
191. Ibid., 173.

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 DESERT STORM WEEK ONE

192. Ibid., 172; and Gray, interview.

193. Gen Sir Peter de la Billière, Storm Command: A Personal Account of
the Gulf War (London: Harper Collins Publishers, 1992), 191.
194. Clancy with Stiner, Shadow Warriors, 436.
195. Yarsinske, No One Left Behind, 110.
196. Brig Gen Robert H. Scales, Certain Victory: The US Army in the Gulf
War (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Staff, US Army, 1993), 184.
197. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 244.
198. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
199. GAWD, 227.
200. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 179.
201. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
202. Herlick, Separated by War, 127; and GAWD, 100.
203. Marolda and Schneller, Shield and Sword, 199.
204. Time sequence for CSAR for Slate 46.
205. Detachment Summary Report, HCS-4.
206. Trask, interview.
207. Time sequence for CSAR for Slate 46.
208. Capt Michael P. Vriesenga, From the Line in the Sand: Accounts of
USAF Company Grade Officers in Support of Desert Shield/Desert Storm (Max-
well AFB, AL: Air University Press, 1994), 178.
209. Trask, interview; and Clancy with Stiner, Shadow Warriors, 419.
210. Hampton, interview.
211. 1 SOW History, 1 January–31 December 1991 (Special Operations
Wing [SOW] History Office), 130.
212. GAWD, 101.
213. Vriesenga, From the Line in the Sand, 180; and GAWD, 98.
214. Trask, interview.
215. Vriesenga, From the Line in the Sand, 182.
216. GAWD, 99.
217. Trask, interview.
218. Vriesenga, From the Line in the Sand, 183.
219. Comer, interview.
220. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
221. GWAPS, 169; and AFSOC History, 99.
222. Gray, interview.
223. Clancy with Horner, Every Man a Tiger, 548.
224. Joint Staff, Joint Publication 1-02, Department of Defense Dictionary
of Military and Associated Terms (Washington, DC: 2001).
225. Clancy with Horner, Every Man a Tiger, 545.
226. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 179–80.
227. Andy McNab, Bravo Two Zero (New York: Island Books, 1993), 41.
228. Chris Ryan, The One That Got Away (London: Century Press, 1995),
233; and Brig Gen Rich Comer, comments to author on manuscript review, 2
February 2003.
229. Ryan, The One That Got Away, 201.
230. Capt John Steube, interview by the author, 9 January 2002.

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231. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.

232. GAWD, 227; and Allen, Thunder and Lightning, 80.
233. Allen, Thunder and Lightning, 58–59.
234. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
235. GAWD, 228; and GWAPS, 161.
236. Marolda with Schneller, Shield and Sword, 209.
237. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
238. GAWD, 227; CNA, 5-58; and USS Nicholas (FFG-47), History 1991,
Naval Historical Center, Command History (Washington, DC).
239. History, 614 TFS.
240. Gray, interview.

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 Chapter 5

Desert Storm Weeks Two/Three/Four:

24 January–13 February 1991

We wanted to go up there and obliterate them so badly on

the ground that they had no will to fight and no means to do
it. We did that. We did that systematically and meticu-
lously.
—Capt Mike Magnus, A-10 pilot

By the second week it was clear that Saddam’s forces were

being badly mauled. He decided on a new tactic. He directed his
commanders in Kuwait to open the spigots in the oil fields and
begin pumping crude oil into the Persian Gulf. President Bush
labeled this “environmental terrorism.” Immediately, General
Horner directed his staff to develop a plan for bombing the
pumping stations and transfer points. F-111Fs using GBU-15
laser-guided bombs (LGB) stopped the flow.1
It was also clear that the coalition forces owned the sky. Sad-
dam’s air force was rapidly ceasing to exist, and his air defense
units were afraid to even turn on their radars. But attacks on
airfields and air defense sites had to continue lest the enemy
gain an opportunity to recover from the onslaught.

24 January
I039 – Dover 02/Tornado, RAF
This crew of Flight Lieutenant Burgess and Squadron Leader
Ankerson was part of another large force of Tornadoes again
attacking the Ar Rumaylah Airfield in Iraq.2 They were forced to
eject when one of their 1,000-pound bombs detonated prema-
turely and destroyed their aircraft. Ankerson was met by Iraqi
troops and immediately captured. Burgess was able to slip
away in the dark and hide behind a small ridge. He activated his
beacon and made several radio calls. None were acknowledged.
At dawn, he could see that he was in an area of bunkers and

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 DESERT STORM WEEKS TWO/THREE/FOUR

39° 40° 41° 42° 43° 44° 45° 46° 47° 48°
Diyarbakir
38° 38°
Batman
Lake
TURKEY
Cizre
Hakkari Urmia
WEEKS 2–4
Urfa Zakho 24 JAN–13 FEB
37° 37°

Mosul
Irbil
I R A N
36°
SYRIA 36°

Al Kirkuk
Fatah
35° K2 35°
Al Sahra

Al Qa'im
Tikrit

Hadithah
34° Balad 34°
Al Asad
H1 Ba'qubah
H2 Ar Ramadi Baghdad
Al Taqaddum
Ar Rutbah
33°
I R A Q 33°
J OR DAN

H3
Karbala' Tigris
Mudaysis
Al Kut

32° An Nukhayb Ad Diwaniyah 32°

Najaf

Ratchet 75 Hunter 26
Euph
As Samawah rates
An Nasiriyah
31° Ar Ar 31°
Tallil
As Salman Dover 02
Shaibah Al Basrah
Jalibah
Ar Rumaylah Umm
Al Bussayyah Qasr Al
30° Faw
Al Jouf
Heartless
531
Rafha
© Darrel Whitcomb, 2002
Al Jahra Kuwait
Airfields SAUDI KUWAIT City
Uzi 11
29° Major roads Jump
Cat 36
International boundaries
ARABIA Hafar Al
51
Spirit 03
0 50 100 150 km. Batin
Ras Al Khafji
0 50 100 mi. Ras Al Mishab
28°
28°
39° 40° 41° 42° 43° 44° 45° 46° 47° 48°

enemy troops. An estimated two hours later, a jeep of soldiers

drove directly up to him and took him prisoner.3
This was the fifth Tornado loss in seven days and the second
regrettable occurrence of fratricide. The airfield attacks with
the Tornado/JP.233 combination had been critical to shutting
down the Iraqi Air Force and attaining air superiority, but now

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 DESERT STORM WEEKS TWO/THREE/FOUR

that had been done, and it was time to reevaluate tactics. That
reevaluation clearly indicated that low-level attacks were no
longer necessary. The RAF units joined the medium-altitude
war. As one of the commanders recalled, “It was a straightfor-
ward operational decision that at that stage we didn’t need to
go down and drop weapons at low level. It made more sense to
bring our aircraft up, so we changed tactics and got into the
precision-guided business.”4
Accordingly, the British Tornadoes were retasked for attacks
on bridges. The RAF reinforced its Tornado units with Bucca-
neers equipped with laser designators, and they teamed up
with the Tornadoes for precision strikes. Using LGBs, the Brits
destroyed 63 percent of the bridges they attacked.5
This, too, would carry its own risks because the British had
not made the investment in electronic jamming pods for their
aircraft, as the Americans had. This meant that if they encoun-
tered a radar-controlled SAM and had no Wild Weasel support,
they would be vulnerable. But that was still better than being
down among the guns.

I040 – Active 304/F-18, USN

Returning to the USS Roosevelt, the Navy F/A-18 experienced
engine failure over the central Persian Gulf.6 The pilot radioed
his predicament to the Marine TACC and ejected. He was in-
jured in the process. Orbiting aircraft established contact with
him and alerted the Navy RCC. They dispatched an SH-3, call
sign Venom 505, from the USS Caron with two SEALs on board
for the recovery. The pilot was picked up and taken to the USS
Wisconsin for medical treatment.7 As with Wolf 01 the day be-
fore, the aircrews knew that there was relative safety in ejecting
over the coalition-controlled Gulf.

25 January
I042 – Desert Hawk 102/UH-60, RSAF
On a support mission, the helicopter crashed 65 miles north-
east of Al Jabayl. The Army RCC monitored its emergency call

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and responded to recover the crew. This was a classic SAR situ-
ation. In this case, US assets recovered a Saudi crew.8

26 January
As the air campaign progressed, the coalition ground combat
units were training and repositioning for the coming ground
campaign. All US Army and Marine units had large fleets of
helicopters. The Army RCC and the Marine TACC were the im-
mediate points of contact for any SAR or CSAR efforts regard-
ing their aircraft.

I045 – Bulldog /OH-58, US Army

The aircraft crashed in a sandstorm near Al Qaysūmah,
Saudi Arabia.9 The Army RCC responded and sent a recovery
force to safely recover the crew.10

***

Early that afternoon the CENTAF commander, General Horner,

sat down and reviewed the first nine days of combat. Looking
back at the effort expended thus far, he felt that the objectives
of Phase I and II of the air campaign had mostly been met. He
roughly calculated how many sorties would be needed over
the next several days to complete the campaign and sustain
the damage. He then turned to the next phase, the prepara-
tion of the battlefield. That would require a refocusing of the
air effort.11
Horner commented to the CENTAF staff, “We are where we
need to be to shift the emphasis to the Republican Guards.”12
This fit in with what his boss wanted. General Schwarzkopf
was thinking ahead to the ground battle. He wanted the air ef-
fort to refocus on the Iraqi army, and specifically, the Republi-
can Guard divisions.
To facilitate the flow of aircraft over a relatively small area,
the area between the Saudi-Iraqi-Kuwaiti border and Basra
and east of Hafar al Batin was divided into kill boxes. Each
900-square-mile box was defined by specific latitudes and lon-

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gitudes. Different forward air controllers or flights would be

assigned to work in each. This was an effective deconfliction
measure.13
To further refine the effort, General Horner had the planners
focus the attacks each day on a specific division. One day would
be “Hammarabi day” or “Al Fāw day.” Eventually more than 750
sorties a day were directed against the identified ground units.

27 January
The next day Colonel Comer at ArAr was notified that one of
the British SAS teams inserted into western Iraq a few days
earlier was missing. The team, Bravo 20, had last reported its
position as about 50 miles southeast of Al Qāim. Comer was
directed to begin planning a rescue mission for them. The unit
intelligence section had done an excellent job of templating the
enemy forces and defensive systems in the area. This allowed
the crews to develop a comprehensive plan for searching for the
team while paying due respect to the dangerous enemy SAM
sites and AAA guns. This was a special operations mission, and
no incident or mission number was assigned.
When ordered to launch, an MH-53 of the 20th SOS, piloted
by Capt Corby Martin and Capt William LeMenager, took off in
formation with a British CH-47 Chinook from the RAF 7 Squad-
ron. The crews proceeded to the team’s initial insertion point
and flew their preplanned evasion route back toward the Saudi
border. No contact was made with the team. Using the intelli-
gence data given them, the crews then began an intensive
search of the area. At one point the ever-present AWACS called
them with a warning of an active SA-8 missile site directly in
front of them. They altered course and ended up flying very
close to the Mudaysis Air Base. When their fuel was exhausted,
they began to head back to ArAr.
Unexpectedly, the crew of the CH-47 began calling for Bravo
20 on the emergency radio frequency. This had not been briefed
to the US crew and took them quite by surprise. A few minutes
later they were shocked to see the Chinook crew dispensing
flares. This illuminated the two helicopters, and LeMenager

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called them to find out what they were doing. The Brits replied
that they were trying to gain the attention of the ground team.
A few miles north of the Saudi border, the radar-warning
receiver on the MH-53 picked up a signal from another SA-8
site. They took evasive action and dispensed chaff to fool it.
The search for Bravo 20 was unsuccessful, but it showed that
the Pave Lows could be used for search missions where the
enemy threat was more permissive—especially at night. The
key was good mission preparation and preplanning.14
That same evening at a press conference, General Schwarz-
kopf declared that coalition air forces had achieved air su-
premacy over the Iraqi nation. That meant that coalition air-
craft could range over Iraq with impunity and do whatever they
wanted to do.15
That assessment applied primarily to the fast mover aircraft
that could operate above 10,000 feet. To the helicopter pilots, it
did not mean as much. But in analyzing the missions flown to
date, Colonel Comer felt that at night, his helicopters could
safely fly over as much as 70 percent of Iraq at a reasonable
level of risk, as they had on the Bravo 20 mission. But, they still
had to avoid the cities and known troop concentrations, and
there was still the unpredictable danger of flying over roving
bands of unfriendly Bedouins.16

28 January
I047/M009 – Cat 36/AV-8, USMC
Capt Michael Berryman launched as the flight lead of two
Harriers on ground alert in response to tasking from the Ma-
rine ground units.17 They attacked a FROG missile battery on
the Kuwaiti coast. Enemy AAA was heavy in the area, and the
ground forces had heat-seeking missiles. Berryman’s shoot-
down was not observed, and he was reported missing when he
failed to rejoin his wingman after the air strike.18 Another flight
of AV-8s and an F-18 searched for him without contact. Intel-
ligence sources subsequently determined that his aircraft had
been hit by a heat-seeking missile, and Iraqi forces had imme-
diately taken him prisoner.19

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I048/M010 – Jaguar, Omani Air Force

This aircraft was reported missing 12 miles south of Dhah-
ban, Oman.20 A SAR effort was initiated. Local forces, USAF
C-130s, and an RAF Nimrod searched. The pilot was the station
commander. He was found dead by Omani rescue personnel
and classified as a noncombat loss.21

***

Intelligence sources indicated that the focused attacks on

the Iraqi forces in Kuwait were beginning to take a toll. Saddam
and his military leaders appeared to have believed that any
ground attack would be preceded by no more than three to
seven days of focused air attacks specifically on their forces.
They were shocked at the relentlessness of the campaign. They
appeared equally shocked when this newly focused air attack
did not seem to be a prelude to the ground attack either but a
sustained attack in its own right. They were also alarmed at
the effectiveness of the shelter-busting attacks by the F-111Fs
and the lack of desired effects from their Scud attacks against
Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Perhaps desperate, the Iraqis decided to launch a “spoiling
attack” in Kuwait with three divisions: the 1st Mechanized, the
5th Mechanized, and the 3d Armored. It would be supported by
commandos coming south along the coast in small boats. Such
an attack would have two objectives: first, to cause American
casualties that would stir up political opposition in the United
States; and second, to provoke the coalition into initiating a
ground war on the Iraqis’ terms. This would turn the war to
what was their primary strength, their powerful ground units.22
Having been provided US intelligence during the Iran-Iraq
war, the Iraqis knew the times when US reconnaissance satel-
lites were overhead. They timed their moves so that they had
the least chance of detection. That evening a brigade-size task
force from Iraq’s 3d Armored Division began moving toward
the Saudi border. Moving quickly, its lead units were almost to
the border before US Marine outposts spotted them. The ma-
rines called in air support and began to decimate the attacking
elements.23

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The Iraqis persevered and slammed into several outposts.

They had studied the operations of the Marine Corps and un-
derstood their procedure for calling in air strikes. At one point,
they used powerful radio jammers to block radio frequencies
and keep the marines from calling for air support. The Marine
outposts used backup telephone lines and were able to get
some air sorties to the initial engagements. Unfortunately, in
the confusion of the individual battles, there were two incidents
of fratricide, and several marines were killed before the attacks
of the 1st Mechanized Division and the 3d Armored Division
were blunted.

30 January
The attack of the 5th Mechanized Division came down the
main coastal highway and entered the town of Khafji, five miles
inside Saudi Arabia. Coalition leaders were slow in picking up
the significance of the Iraqi move. Khafji had been abandoned
because it was within range of Iraqi artillery, but once the pene-
tration was discovered and Horner became aware of the situa-
tion, he ordered the TACC to begin flowing air to the battle.
Additionally, he directed some special reconnaissance assets to
reposition to better observe the enemy. Aircraft of all types were
sent against the invaders.24
The small boats carrying the commandos were also spotted
and attacked by A-6s with precision bombs and by Royal Navy
attack helicopters from the British warships HMS Brazen, Car-
diff, and Gloucester. Firing 25 Sea Skua missiles, they damaged
all 11 of the Iraqi boats and drove them off.25
That evening a task force of Saudi mechanized infantry and
Qatari armor attacked the invaders in Khafji. They were beaten
back after two uncoordinated attacks. US air strikes pounded
the Iraqis in and around Khafji. Other air strikes destroyed
truck columns that tried to resupply or reinforce the invading
units. The next morning, an AC-130 gunship was refragged to
attack the two Iraqi divisions.

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31 January
I051/M011 – Spirit 03/AC-130, USAF
With its massive firepower, the AC-130 was a tremendous
asset in any land battle. It had more than proven its worth 20
years prior in the skies over Southeast Asia. But the big, lum-
bering aircraft was also vulnerable to ground threats. The best
tactic was to work at night and hide in the darkness.
Accordingly, Spirit 03 was launched into the night to support
the US Marine and Saudi ground forces containing and coun-
terattacking the Iraqi forces of the 3d Armored Division that
attacked in Saudi Arabia just north of the town of Khafji.26 Find-
ing many targets, the Spirit 03 crew provided excellent support
to the coalition ground units below. As dawn approached, one of
the controllers aboard the sector AWACS contacted the Spirit
pilot and warned him of pending dawn. “I can’t go right now,”
aircraft commander Maj Paul Weaver responded. His crew was
engaged in destroying a FROG missile battery. The FROG mis-
siles were a serious threat to coalition ground forces in the area.
Less than a minute later, the aircraft was hit by an enemy mis-
sile. The deadly projectile struck one of the engines on the left
wing. Somebody on the aircraft called “Mayday” on the radio.
That call was the crew’s last transmission. The explosion caused
the wing to crack, and the aircraft plunged into the water just a
few hundred yards off the coast. As soon as the loss was re-
ported to the JRCC, SOCCENT dispatched aircraft into the area
to search for possible survivors. The 55th SOS was alerted for
recovery. The wreckage was observed falling into the water, and
efforts focused there. Helicopters from the USS Nicholas and
several Saudi boats searched the area, but there were no survi-
vors.27 Killed were:
Maj Paul Weaver TSgt Robert Hodges
Capt Arthur Galvan SSgt John Blessinger
Capt William Grimm SSgt Tim Harrison
Capt Dixon Walters SSgt John Oelschlager
1st Lt Thomas Bland SSgt Mark Schmauss
MSgt Paul Buegge Sgt Barry Clark
MSgt James May Sgt Damon Kanuha28

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Photo courtesy of Peter Mersky

MH-53s stood CSAR alert near the Saudi-Iraqi border at ArAr.

As ground forces held the penetration and a renewed Saudi

attack swung around to the north, cutting off the Iraqi unit in
the town, airpower mauled the invaders. One tank brigade was
virtually destroyed when it got caught in a minefield just as a
number of flights of A-10s, AV-8s, F-15Es, and others deci-
mated it with bombs and CBUs. A survivor of this attack was
later captured. He stated that his unit took more damage in
that one attack than it did in 10 years of war against Iran. The
air strikes against the 3d Armored Division were so unremitting
that the unit never had a chance to concentrate and mount a
focused attack.29
Sensing the moment, the Saudi commander again ordered
his Saudi-Qatari task force to attack and seize the town. This
time, the Iraqis broke. Out came the white flags, and the task
force secured its objective.30
The battle of Khafji was short but fierce. It intensified the
focus of CENTAF on the Iraqi forces in Kuwait or just north of
it. To preclude a repeat of the attack, the forces along the bor-
der received the largest share of the bombs, but no Iraqi unit or
facility south of Basra was safe, and the air campaign against
them was relentless.
As the battle of Khafji was being fought, elements of an 877-
man US joint special operations task force (JSOTF) began to
deplane at ArAr. Arriving directly from SOCOM-assigned units

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in the United States, they began to acclimate and train for the
upcoming operations. Their commanders spent time with the
commanders and crews of the MH-53s, HH-60s, MH-60s, and
the A-10s, as they prepared to fly into western Iraq to reinforce
the British SAS in its campaign against the Scud sites and mis-
siles. This was under the direct command of CENTCOM.31

1 February
The next morning Iraqi naval units in the northern Gulf at-
tempted to make a dash for safety in Iran. Coalition naval ele-
ments intercepted them. For more than 13 hours, coalition
ships, helicopters, and attack aircraft pummeled the fleeing ar-
mada. Coalition aircraft destroyed or damaged seven missile-
carrying boats, three amphibious ships, a minesweeper, and
nine other small craft in the shallow waters near Bubiyan Is-
land. US Navy combat recovery forces were kept busy pulling
surrendering Iraqi sailors and soldiers out of the water. Only
one ship made it to Iran and was impounded for the duration
of the war.32

2 February
Now two weeks into the war, CENTAF operations officers did a
quick analysis of CSAR operations to date. To reemphasize to the
aircrews the need for tactical flexibility in CSAR operations, the
director of operations at CENTAF sent this message to all units:
Subj: Operation DESERT STORM Evasion and Escape Tips. (U)

(U) Combat search and rescue recovery may be executed by any of the
following: helicopters with or without protective fighter aircraft; naval
vessels, with possible air cover; armored vehicle reconnaissance; infan-
try units as part of an advance. All of these methods may involve a
surprise move by the recovery force to at least temporarily overwhelm
the enemy with superior firepower in the vicinity of the evader(s). Such
efforts usually require speed to prevent the enemy from increasing his
strength. Evaders that can move may be able to improve their chances
of being successfully recovered by conducting initial evasion travel to a
suitable hole-up site, employing discreet communication and signaling
procedures, and selecting a site for recovery that considers the potential
enemy opposition in the area.33
As this message was being sent, the intense battles in the
northern Gulf area continued unabated. Naval strike packages

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routinely flew sea suppression missions in the area, hunting for

Iraqi naval forces. The packages usually consisted of two A-6s
armed with bombs and EA-6Bs, which flew above and used
their powerful electronics to jam Iraqi radars. The EA-6Bs also
carried HARMs that could home in on and destroy any radar
units foolish enough to radiate long enough for the missiles to
find them.34

I052 – Heartless 531/A-6, USN

This aircraft from VA-36 off the USS Roosevelt launched with
a crew of LT Pat Connor and LCDR Barry Cooke to fly in one of
the armed surface reconnaissance missions east of Faylaka Is-
land in the northern portion of the Persian Gulf.35 The crew
reported that they had been fired at with an SA-7 heat-seeking
missile. A few minutes later they were observed pursuing a pa-
trol boat. The crew did not answer subsequent radio calls. A
visual search of the area by other crews in their flight and a
Navy SH-60 revealed an oil slick and drop tank floating on the
water. Enemy SAMs and AAA were active in the area and were
engaged by numerous aircraft. Intelligence sources subse-
quently determined that the crew had been killed in the en-
gagement.36 Connor’s body washed up on one of the offshore
islands at the end of March.37

I053/M012 – Uzi 11/A-10, USAF

Not far to the west, coalition aircraft continued to strike en-
emy units in the kill boxes between the Saudi-Kuwaiti border
and Basra in Iraq. Two A-10s led by Capt Dale Storr struck
targets in the AG4 kill box in Kuwait.38 Lacking a forward air
controller, they were assigned a target just north of the Al
Jaber Airfield by the local airborne controller. They initially
dropped some bombs and fired their Maverick missiles on a
warehouse complex. The enemy gunners responded and began
to engage with mixed-caliber AAA. Captain Storr then spotted
a convoy of enemy trucks. He made two strafe passes and hit
several. As he was recovering from his second pass, his wing-
man, 1st Lt Eric Miller saw what appeared to be a brown puff
of smoke beneath his leader’s aircraft. Then the stricken plane

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rolled off to the right and began an out-of-control descent.

Storr fought to control the aircraft, but the flight controls had
been fatally damaged. Miller called his flight leader repeatedly,
but Storr did not respond. Desperate, he called for Storr to
eject. Storr heard the call and did so. Miller did not see Storr
or his parachute. Instead, he saw the aircraft hit the ground
and explode.
Storr had ejected below 2,000 feet. As his chute opened, he
was immediately overcome by the harsh sound of the war raging
below him. He could hear enemy bullets whizzing by. His para-
chute carried him through the smoke of his burning aircraft.
Landing unhurt on a small sand dune, Storr grabbed his
emergency equipment and immediately tried to find some cover.
He spotted enemy troops approaching in a truck from the gen-
eral area that he had just strafed. Storr had two survival ra-
dios. The one in his vest was a PRC-90. He had another in his
emergency bag. Unfortunately, it was for training purposes
only and was not tuned to the appropriate frequencies. That
was the one he grabbed. He made several desperate calls to
Miller that his wingman did not hear because he was monitor-
ing another frequency. The enemy troops closed in and cap-
tured him. Some struck him with their fists and one with a rifle,
but otherwise, he was unhurt.
Unaware of any of this, Miller set up an orbit and began call-
ing for his flight lead. He also notified the orbiting AWACS that
Uzi 11 was down. Immediately a forward air controller, Nail 55,
Capt Mike Beard, joined him over Storr’s location. They repeat-
edly called on the emergency frequency but never heard a re-
sponse. Miller spotted several enemy trucks rapidly driving into
the area and strafed them.
By now Miller was low on fuel and departed for a tanker, as
Nail 55 continued to orbit over the downed aircraft. Two A-10s
on rescue alert at KKMC were scrambled. They arrived over the
location and assumed the on-scene command.
Miller returned after refueling, but there was no contact with
Storr. When his fuel was exhausted, Miller returned to KKMC,
where he met with SOCCENT personnel. They questioned him
closely about the crash site and lack of contact either electroni-
cally or visually with Storr.39 A package of rescue helicopters
from the 55th SOS and the 71st SOS was launched and flew

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near the Kuwaiti border. Colonel Hampton worked closely with

the battlefield coordination element (BCE) in the TACC to shut
down US artillery so the helicopters could safely pass.40 Lack-
ing any contact with the survivor, and considering the enemy
threat in the area, they were never committed into Kuwaiti air-
space. The next day intelligence sources reported that Storr
had been immediately captured by Iraqi ground forces.41
As the aerial forces were pounding the Iraqis, various US and
coalition ground units continued to prepare for the pending
ground war. Their helicopters were constantly in action.

I054/M013 – Millcreek 701/AH-1J, USMC

Maj Eugene McCarthy and Capt Jon Edwards were lost while
flying with NVGs as escort for a medical evacuation mission out
of the Kibrit Airfield in northern Saudi Arabia.42 When they did
not return to their base, an immediate search was initiated. A
British Nimrod, Marine OV-10s, and AH-1s searched without
success. The next morning a Marine ground team found the
crash and recovered the remains of the two men. This was sub-
sequently determined to be a noncombat loss.43

I055 – Hulk 46/B-52, USAF

B-52s were heavily involved in the war. None were based in
the region. Instead, they flew in from the United States, Eng-
land, or Spain. The United States was also granted permission
by the British to use their base at Diego Garcia in the Indian
Ocean. This meant that all B-52 missions were long flights,
which strained these already old aircraft. This was their second
major war, and the aircraft suffered continuous mechanical
problems.
Hulk 46 suffered a massive electrical failure while lowering
its flaps for landing at Diego Garcia, causing the fuel pumps to
shut down.44 Loss of positive fuel pressure precipitated the
flame-out of all engines. When the aircraft went down, another
B-52 and two KC-135s in the area diverted to set up a search
pattern. A US Navy SH-3 helicopter immediately responded
and picked up three crewmembers who had safely ejected. The
other three men on board were killed.45

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***

To increase the effectiveness of his tactical strikes, General

Glosson decided to use fighter pilots in F-16s to direct air
strikes. Called “killer scouts” to differentiate from forward air
controllers in A-10s and OA-10s, these pilots were drawn from
the 4th TFS, led by Lt Col Mark Welsh. They would be assigned
to the individual kill boxes in the KTO, which had been estab-
lished earlier. A flight of two scouts would be assigned to each
box, as the ground situation dictated, to find enemy targets.
The scouts would then direct other flights of fighters, bombers,
or even gunships as they hit the targets. The scouts could also
accurately determine the effectiveness of the strike to help bet-
ter assess how the air campaign was progressing.46

I056 – Gunfighter 126/UH-1N, USMC

On a routine mission to resupply forward units, this aircraft
from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369 crashed for
unknown reasons.47 All bodies were recovered. This was deter-
mined to be a noncombat loss.48

5 February
I061 – Warparty 01/F-18, USN
While returning to his ship, Warparty 02 reported that his
wingman, LT Robert Dwyer, was having navigation trouble and
that the flight had become separated.49 The Navy RCC began a
search for the aircraft. Radar controllers on the USS Bunker Hill
reported that they had tracked an aircraft that descended from
30,000 feet to the surface in 60 seconds. From their radar tapes,
they determined the missing aircraft’s last known position to be
25 miles southeast of Faylakah Island in the northern Persian
Gulf. Rescue helicopters were ordered into the area. Fighter air-
craft provided security while they searched. The helicopter
crews discovered an oil slick but no other indications of the air-
craft or pilot. After two days, the search was terminated.50

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***

The pummeling of the Iraqi forces continued. Some F-111s

were thrown into the mix. Working in the kill boxes over Kuwait,
some of the crews noticed that their heat-sensitive forward-
looking infrared sensors (FLIR) could detect Iraqi tanks and
other pieces of heavy equipment like artillery and AAA guns.
The commander of the F-111F wing, Col Tom Lennon, led a
flight of two aircraft carrying 500-pound LGBs. Using their
FLIRs, they attacked eight Iraqi vehicles in the Medina Division,
a prime target. Analyzing the film, Colonel Lennon concluded
that they had destroyed seven of the targets. The F-111s were
quickly rearmed and refragged to join the attack against the
Iraqi forces. Their priorities were chemical weapons launchers,
artillery, tanks, and other armored vehicles. Lumped together
under the moniker of “tank plinking,” the effort added to the
systematic destruction of the Iraqi ground forces.51
Within days, General Glosson ordered the F-15Es and A-6Ds,
with their laser bomb capability, to join this attack. He also
ordered the F-16s—the most common aircraft in the theater—
to press their attacks below 9,000 feet so that they could be
more accurate and increased the missions for the F-16s flying
as killer scouts.52 This was a throwback to the old “fast forward
air controller” program in Southeast Asia where fighter crews
in F-100s or F-4s did the same thing in high-threat areas.
To protect the attack aircraft, flights of F-4G Wild Weasels would
orbit overhead and launch HARMs at any SAM or other radar-
controlled sites that attempted to track coalition aircraft. When-
ever they launched a missile, the Weasels would call “Magnum”
on the radio to alert other crews that a HARM had been fired. The
other fighter crews noticed how the enemy radar sites would turn
off their radars when “Magnum” was called. They adopted the
tactic, and whenever Weasels were not around, they would call
“Magnum” anytime a radar site went active.53 The overall result of
these tactical changes was a more focused and intense air cam-
paign against the Iraqi forces in and around Kuwait.

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6 February

I063 – UH-1 Medical Evacuation, US Army

This helicopter crashed 20 miles east of Rafha.54 The Army
RCC responded and dispatched a recovery aircraft (Dustoff
229). One crewmember was killed, and four were wounded. This
was a noncombat loss.55

***

The level of effort against the enemy ground units continued

to grow. Fifty more sorties a day had been added to the attack
force hitting the Iraqis in Kuwait. Most of the increase was the
F-111s, which continued to plink the tanks and artillery. The
planners began to move the strikes deeper into Kuwait. Marine
air strikes focused on enemy units across the border from its
ground units. The Navy continued to pound targets along the
coast. Even SOCCENT got into the attack by sending one of its
MC-130 Talons to drop a 15,000-pound bomb on Iraqi troops.
The strike was designed to lower their morale. Intelligence data
indicated that it did.56

7 February
In the early morning hours helicopters from SOCCENT be-
gan to insert elements of the JSOTF into western Iraq to rein-
force the British SAS in its campaign against the Scuds. Coor-
dinating with the SAS, they operated in the area between Al
Qāim and the airfields to the south called H-2 and H-3. Over
the next weeks, they continuously called in air strikes on the
enemy forces. In one action, a reinforced platoon of US Army
Rangers attacked and destroyed a large communications facil-
ity near the Jordanian border. Working with F-15Es that at-
tacked nearby AAA sites, they also used explosive devices to
drop a 350-foot communications tower.57
Special Operations MH-60s and MH-6s from the 1st/160th
SOAR (1st Battalion of the 160th Special Operations Aviation
Regiment) began flying “thunder run” missions in direct sup-

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 DESERT STORM WEEKS TWO/THREE/FOUR

port of the now marauding teams throughout the area of opera-

tions. NVGs made them especially effective at night.58
The efforts of the British SAS and the US JSOTF paid dra-
matic dividends. Since the Scud launches began 18 January,
the Iraqis had launched 29 missiles from the western desert.
After 7 February, they only launched 11 more, and two of those
fell harmlessly into the desert.59
Flying support for the operation kept the helicopter crews of
SOCCENT busy. Still, at no time did it keep them from having
helicopters on alert at several locations for combat recovery.60
The dual tasking was at times confusing to the aircrews.
Capt Paul Harmon explained that often crews on rescue alert
were kept busy planning for SOF support missions. “One of the
things that I think is important—even though we were tasked
with other missions, we never came off alert,” he noted. “We
might have been pulling CSAR alert when we were doing plan-
ning cells. That’s one of the gross misconceptions over the last
10 years, [that we] were too busy doing these other things, that
we didn’t have time to do CSAR. [It’s] not the case.”61
Subsequently, he and the other Pave Low crews flew support
missions for the JSOTF operations in western Iraq but were
always on alert for combat recovery. In some cases, this meant
that crews had to violate crew rest rules. When faced with com-
plaints, 20th SOS commander Colonel Comer granted “squad-
ron internal waivers,” knowing full well that what he was doing
was clearly illegal. But war was war.62

9 February
I064/M014 – Jump 57/AV-8, USMC
On his 17th combat mission, Capt Russell Sanborn was hit
by what appeared to be a heat-seeking missile as his flight of
two AV-8s attacked an artillery battery in Kuwait.63 He was the
wingman in the flight. His flight lead was the Marine Air Group
(MAG) 13 commander, Col John Bioty.
When the missile slammed into the AV-8, the aircraft flipped
over and entered a spiral. Realizing that the aircraft was no lon-
ger flyable, Sanborn ejected. Upon landing he quickly spread out
his orange and white canopy so aircraft above could spot his

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 DESERT STORM WEEKS TWO/THREE/FOUR

position. Unfortunately, he had landed near an enemy head-

quarters unit, and Iraqi soldiers quickly closed in on him. San-
born checked that his pistol was cocked and then made a quick
call on his PRC-90 survival radio that he was down and alive.
The call was not acknowledged. Shouting at him in Arabic, the
enemy troops closed in, and he was immediately captured.
Nobody reported hearing either Sanborn’s emergency beacon
or voice transmission. The Marine TACC reported the event to
the JRCC, who tasked SOCCENT. SOCCENT launched two
MH-60s from the 55th SOS and an MH-47 from the 3d/160th.
They held short of the front lines pending contact with San-
born. They were escorted by two A-10s.
Sanborn’s parachute was sighted, but intelligence sources
relayed reports from Kuwaiti agents that Sanborn had been
captured by Iraqi troops and was slightly injured. Regardless,
the A-10s searched for the pilot until they had to leave for fuel.
As a result of this incident, AV-8s began carrying and using de-
coy flares to protect them from the dangerous enemy missiles.64

11 February
General Powell and Secretary of Defense Cheney flew to Riyadh
for a high-level review of the war. After they were briefed on results
to date, the discussion turned to ground operations. Each senior
commander was allowed to give his positions on the war. Secre-
tary Cheney then set the date for initiation of the ground war as
21 February or a few days after, depending on the weather.65

13 February
As the strategic campaign continued, F-117s were retargeted
against command and control centers. One command center in
particular, near Baghdad, was noted for its high level of activity. In
the early morning hours, the Al Firdos bunker was hit with two
2,000-pound LGBs. It appeared to be a successful routine strike.

I069/M015 – Hunter 26/F-5, RSAF

Although the US Air Force, Navy, and Marines flew the ma-
jority of sorties in Desert Storm, our allies also made signifi-

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 DESERT STORM WEEKS TWO/THREE/FOUR

cant contributions to the war. The British and Italians had al-
ready lost several Tornadoes in the dangerous airfield attacks.
All forces suffered battle damage.
The Saudis reported that Hunter 26 had gone down just in-
side Iraq and north of ArAr.66 Two HH-60Hs from HCS-4 at
ArAr launched and flew search patterns with A-10 escort. Voice
contact and authentication with the pilot were never received,
and the aircraft were recalled. Search efforts continued for sev-
eral days with RSAF UH-1Ns and C-130s and a US Navy E-2.67
The pilot had been captured by the Iraqis.

I070 – Tiger 53/F-15, RSAF

This aircraft from the 6th Squadron crashed 25 miles south-
east of Mushait Air Base.68 This mission was controlled by the
RSAF. Their helicopters launched, found the wreckage, and re-
ported that they had recovered the body.69

I071 – Ratchet 75/EF-111A, USAF

This late in the war Iraqi aircraft almost never ventured into
the sky. But that did not mean that they were not still a threat.
Ratchet 75 was on a mission in Iraq to jam enemy radars.70 It
was the third aircraft in a flight of four. Shortly after it reached
its orbit point in Iraq, two F-15s passing south through the
area saw an aircraft below them eject a series of countermea-
sure flares. Twenty seconds later they saw the same aircraft
eject three more flares and then disappear in a huge ball of
flame as it hit the ground just inside the Saudi border near the
town of ArAr.71 Killed were the pilot, Capt Douglas Bradt, and
the electronics warfare officer, Capt Paul Eichenlaub.72
The wreckage was sighted from the ArAr tower. HCS-4 crews
planned a mission to the site but were never given launch au-
thority by SOCCENT. Instead, aircrews from the 3d/160th
easily found the crash site and the dead crewmen. HCS-4 heli-
copters then flew a SOF/USAF security team to the site and
supported them for the next several days as they searched the
site and recovered the remains of the crew.73 Although listed as
a combat loss, the crash was blamed on aggressive defensive
combat maneuvering of the crew.

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 DESERT STORM WEEKS TWO/THREE/FOUR

***
EF-111s had been attacked on 19 January by a MiG-25,
which launched three missiles at their formation. All success-
fully evaded the attack, but the MiG effectively broke up their
jamming pattern and continued on to shoot down Corvette 03.
The EF-111 crews also feared the ever-present F-15s because
they were aware of at least one instance when an F-15 had
been cleared to fire on an EF-111 by an AWACS controller. The
pilot held fire when he closed to within visual distance and con-
firmed that the aircraft was a friendly.74
These events put real fear into the hearts of the EF-111 crews.
Several subsequently reported that they were being intercepted
by Iraqi MiGs while in their orbits, but the attacks were never
confirmed. Regardless, among the EF-111 crews, their suspi-
cions evolved into the legend of “Baghdad Billy,” the nighttime
MiG pilot who went looking for lumbering EF-111s.
Later speculation suggested that the sensitive radar-detection
systems on the EF-111s were actually picking up radar signals
from the F-15s and presenting them as possible MiGs trying to
find and shoot them down. Perhaps the crew of Ratchet 75 had
picked up such a signal and taken evasive maneuvers to avoid
what the crew thought was a MiG. In trying to evade, they flew
the aircraft into the ground—the ever-present killer.75
The EF-111 pilots wrote a song about “Baghdad Billy”:
I’m an F-111 Jock, and I’m here to tell
Of Baghdad Billy and his jet from Hell.
We were well protected with Eagles in tight
But that didn’t stop the man with the light.
RJ, AWACS—they didn’t see
As Baghdad Billy snuck up on me.
Then I found a spotlight shining at my six
And my woozoo said “hooooly . . . .”
I popped off some chaff and I popped a flare
But that Iraqi bandit, he didn’t care.
I had tracers on my left, and tracers on my right.
With a load of bombs, I had to run from the fight.
I rolled my “Vark” and took her down
Into the darkness and finally lost the clown.
When I landed back at Taif and gave this rap,
CENTAF said I was full of crap.
I am here to tell you the God’s honest truth.
That Iraqi bandit, he ain’t no spoof.

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 DESERT STORM WEEKS TWO/THREE/FOUR

You don’t have to worry, there is no way

You’ll see Baghdad Billy if you fly in the day.
But listen to me son, for I am right,
Watch out for Baghdad Billy if you fly at night.76

Notes
1. Williamson Murray with Wayne Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf (Bal-
timore, MD: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1996), 86.
2. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log, DS box, Joint Personnel Re-
covery Agency (Fort Belvoir, VA, undated), (hereafter USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/
Mission Log).
3. Stan Morse, ed., “Gulf Air War Debrief,” (hereafter GAWD), World Air
Power Journal (London, UK: Aerospace Publishing, 1991), 118; e-mails from
Flt Lt Mary Hudson, RAF/AHB, 21, 23, and 27 March 2006; and http://
www.raf.mod.uk/gulf/loss.html.
4. Charles Allen, Thunder and Lightning: The RAF in the Gulf: Personal
Experiences of War (London, UK: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1991), 59.
5. Edward Marolda and Robert Schneller Jr., Shield and Sword (Washing-
ton, DC: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, 1998), 236.
6. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
7. Center for Naval Analysis (CNA), “Desert Storm Reconstruction Report,
Volume II: Strike Warfare” (Arlington, VA: October 1991), 5-58; and Morse,
GAWD, 228.
8. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
9. Ibid.
10. Thomas A. Keaney and Eliot A. Cohen, Gulf War Air Power Survey,
Summary Report, vol. 5, pt. 2 (hereafter GWAPS) (Washington, DC: US G.P.O.,
1993), 184.
11. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 183.
12. Ibid., 188.
13. Ibid., 198.
14. History, 1 Special Operations Wing (1 SOW), 1 January–31 December
1991 (History Office), 53; Chris Ryan, The One That Got Away (London, UK:
Century Press, 1995), 201; and Capt William LeMenager, “A Gulf War Chron-
icle,” (HQ SOCOM, unpublished manuscript, January 1998).
15. Marolda and Schneller Jr., Shield and Sword, 210.
16. Comments by Maj Gen Richard Comer on this book, 2 February 2003.
17. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log 15; History, 3d Marine Air
Wing (3 MAW), and Marine Attack Squadron VMA-311 (Washington, DC: Ma-
rine Corps Historical Center, 1 January–28 February 1991).
18. History, VMA311.
19. History, 3 MAW, 119.
20. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
21. GWAPS, 184.
22. Michael R. Gordon and Gen Bernard E. Trainor, The Generals’ War:
The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf (New York: Little, Brown and Co.,
1994), 269.
23. Ibid., 271.

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 DESERT STORM WEEKS TWO/THREE/FOUR

24. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 252.
25. Ibid., 254; and Marolda and Schneller, Shield and Sword, 229.
26. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
27. Tom Clancy with Gen Chuck Horner, Every Man a Tiger (New York: G.
P. Putnam’s Sons, 1999), 450.
28. Morse, GAWD, 227.
29. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 253.
30. Gordon and Trainor, The Generals’ War, 285.
31. Ibid., 244.
32. Marolda and Schneller, Shield and Sword, 231.
33. Message, 021200Z FEB 91, CENTAF.
34. Sherman Baldwin, Ironclaw: A Navy Pilot’s Gulf War Experience (New
York: William Morrow, 1996), 194.
35. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
36. CNA, 5-48, 5-58; and Morse, “GAWD,” 227.
37. Amy W. Yarsinske, No One Left Behind: The Lt Cdr Michael Scott
Speicher Story (New York: Dutton, 2002), 99.
38. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
39. William L. Smallwood, Warthogs: Flying the A-10 in the Gulf War (Wash-
ington, DC: Brassey’s Press, 1993), 141.
40. Lt Col Joe Hampton, interview by the author, 12 March 2000.
41. Smallwood, Warthogs, 142.
42. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
43. History, Marine Attack Helicopter Squadron 775 (HMLA-775); and
History, 3 MAW, 150.
44. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
45. Message, JRCC A/R 031400Z FEB 91; and Clancy with Horner, Every
Man a Tiger, 457.
46. Lt Col Mark A. Welsh, “Day of the Killer Scouts,” Air Force Magazine,
April 1993.
47. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
48. History, 3 MAW, 150.
49. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
50. CNA, 5-59; and Morse, “GAWD,” 227.
51. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 189.
52. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 323.
53. Tim Ripley, “Desert Weasels,” United States Air Force Yearbook 1992, 60.
54. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
55. Message, JRCC A/R 071400Z FEB 91.
56. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 258.
57. BG Robert H. Scales, Certain Victory: The US Army in the Gulf War
(Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Staff, US Army, 1993), 186; and Gor-
don and Trainor, Generals’ War, 246.
58. Tom Clancy with Gen Carl Stiner, Shadow Warriors (New York: G. P.
Putnam’s Sons, 2002), 439.
59. BG Robert H. Scales, Certain Victory, 186.
60. Col George Gray, interview by the author, 3 May 2001.
61. Capt Paul Harmon, interview by the author, 16 February 2000.
62. Comments by Maj Gen Rich Comer on this book, 2 February 2003.

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 DESERT STORM WEEKS TWO/THREE/FOUR

63. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.

64. History, Marine Attack Squadron, VMA 231; and History, 3 MAW, 133.
65. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 307.
66. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
67. Naval Historical Center, Detachment Summary Report HCS-4, Heli-
copter Combat Support Special Squadron 4; and LCDR Neil Kinnear, inter-
view by the author, 24 March 2001.
68. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
69. Message, JRCC A/R 141405Z FEB 91.
70. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
71. Clancy with Horner, Every Man a Tiger, 564.
72. Morse, GAWD, 227.
73. Detachment Summary Report, Helicopter Combat Support Special Squad-
ron 4, (HCS-4), Desert Shield/Desert Storm (CNA, Arlington, VA: 9 December
1990–20 March 1991). Includes attached aircraft and personnel from HCS-5.
74. Yarsinske, No One Left Behind, 67.
75. Clancy with Horner, Every Man a Tiger, 564.
76. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 179.

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 Chapter 6

Desert Storm Week Five:

14–20 February 1991

We knew they were around there somewhere, but we had

been shot at a lot by missiles and AAA. I had flown 30 sor-
ties, and I was feeling a little indestructible.
—1st Lt Robert Sweet

14 February
Desert Storm coalition commanders awoke to endless pic-
tures on worldwide news outlets of Iraqi civilians killed when the
Al Firdos bunker complex was bombed by F-117s the previous
night. An immediate investigation was launched. Intelligence
sources indicated that significant Iraqi leaders were seques-
tered in a command bunker there, but built above it was a
bomb shelter that was full of civilians.
The horrific pictures brought immediate international con-
demnation upon the coalition effort. Responding to the nega-
tive publicity, General Schwarzkopf directed that no more tar-
gets could be hit in the Baghdad area without his direct
approval.1 Otherwise, the aerial onslaught against the Iraqi
forces continued unabated.

I072 – Belfast 41/Tornado, RAF

A combined flight of eight Tornadoes and four Buccaneers
carrying laser-guided bombs again attacked the Iraqi airfield at
Al Taqaddum.2 As they approached the target, several SAM
sites began to track them. One locked on to the lead aircraft
and fired several missiles. A British voice called, “Two missile
launches!” just as two SA-2 radar-guided missiles slammed
into the lead aircraft. The crew ejected.
The loss was reported to the JRCC, who tasked it to SOC-
CENT. The personnel in the SOCCENT RCC began to prepare a
mission and also queried Proven Force about the possibility of

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

39° 40° 41° 42° 43° 44° 45° 46° 47° 48°
Diyarbakir
38° 38°
Batman
Lake
TURKEY Hakkari Urmia
WEEK 5
Cizre
Urfa
37°
Zakho
14-20 FEB 37°

Mosul
Irbil
I R A N
36°
SYRIA 36°

Al Kirkuk
Fatah
35° K2 35°
Al Sahra

Al Qa'im
Tikrit

Hadithah
34° Balad 34°
Al Asad
Belfast 41 Ba'qubah
H1
H2 Ar Ramadi Baghdad
Al Taqaddum
Ar Rutbah
33°
I R A Q 33°
J OR DAN

H3
Karbala' Tigris
Mudaysis
Al Kut

32° An Nukhayb Ad Diwaniyah 32°

Najaf
ODA 525
(24 Feb)
Euph
As Samawah rates
An Nasiriyah
31° Ar Ar 31°
Tallil
As Salman
Jalibah Shaibah Al Basrah
Ar Rumaylah
Umm
Al Bussayyah Enfield 38 Qasr
30°
Al Jouf Tango 15 Enfield 37
Benji 53 Al
Faw
Rafha
© Darrel Whitcomb, 2002
Nail 53 Al Jahra
Kuwait
City
Airfields SAUDI KUWAIT
29° Major roads 29°
International boundaries
ARABIA Hafar Al
0 50 100 150 km. Batin
Ras Al Khafji
0 50 100 mi. Ras Al Mishab
28°
28°
39° 40° 41° 42° 43° 44° 45° 46° 47° 48°

running a mission from the north. Since neither voice nor beeper
contact was made with either crewmember, both SOCCENT
and Proven Force requested that all flights into the area moni-
tor the rescue frequencies for any signals. This was difficult
because of a radio transmitter in Jordan that was jamming the

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

rescue frequencies. Contact was never made with either man.

Subsequently, intelligence sources determined that the pilot, Flt
Lt Rupert Clark, had ejected and was immediately captured. The
navigator, Flt Lt Stephen Hicks, was killed in the engagement.3

15 February
As the air campaign continued, Saddam again tried to strike
back by reaching out with his Scud missiles, launching again
into Saudi Arabia. One missile streaked southward and was
not intercepted by Patriot batteries. It hit the water just 20
yards from a pier in the Al Jubayl harbor but did not explode.
Several large ships were in port, including the US Navy am-
phibious ship Tarawa and a Polish hospital ship. Five thou-
sand tons of artillery ammunition were stacked on the dock.4
In the KTO, Saddam’s military forces were being steadily
weakened but were still dangerous. This was brutally demon-
strated to the tactical aircrews in a dramatic way.
At the end of January, General Glosson approved an opera-
tional change allowing the A-10s to operate as low as 4,000 feet
unless the enemy threat clearly dictated otherwise. Up to that
point, only three aircraft had been damaged by enemy fire. Fly-
ing lower, they were much more accurate with their weapons,
especially the 30 mm gun that was their signature weapon.
Since that time 40 more aircraft had been damaged and one,
call sign Uzi 11, shot down. With the focus now on Iraqi ground
units, the A-10s were being sent deeper into Kuwait and Iraq
and attacking dangerous and well-defended units like the Me-
dina and Tawakina Divisions. But the sturdy A-10s had been
built to take damage from enemy fire, and all except one had
been able to fly back to their home stations.

I073/M016 – Enfield 37 and 38/A-10s, USAF

Numerous flights of two A-10s each launched to hit elements
of the Iraqi 17th Armored Division in one of the kill boxes in
Kuwait. Enfield 37 and 38 coordinated with other flights to hit
an armored battalion.5 They were especially alert because an
earlier flight reported several missiles fired at them. While
orbiting to spot targets, the wingman, 1st Lt Bob Sweet, observed

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

ground fire. His flight lead, Capt Steve Phylis, rolled in and
strafed it. Sweet began to follow when his aircraft was hit by an
undetected heat-seeking missile, which struck his right engine.
The blast destroyed the engine and severely damaged the right
wing. Sweet immediately turned south and tried to reach the
border. The blast had ripped open his hydraulic lines. As his
hydraulic fluid dissipated, his flight controls froze, and the air-
craft rolled out of control. The aircraft nosed downward, and he
tried to switch the flight controls to the standby manual mode
so that he could control the aircraft without hydraulic power.
That process takes several seconds, and as the aircraft in-
creased its rate of dive, Sweet realized that he did not have the
time. He made a quick radio call that he was getting out and,
unsure if his flight lead had heard him, pulled the ejection han-
dle. He had been hit at about 12,000 feet and was well below
6,000 feet when he ejected.6
Descending, he saw enemy troops running toward him. He
landed about 30 yards from an Iraqi headquarters bunker and
some tanks. About 60 soldiers surrounded him and took him
prisoner. He was never able to make an emergency call.7
The flight lead, Capt Steve Phylis, immediately took over as
the on-scene commander for the rescue effort. He contacted
another flight of two A-10s, Pachmayr 03 and 04, who were
working just to the north and had them divert. As they ap-
proached, Phylis began giving them a verbal description of the
area. They did not have visual contact with him. Suddenly he
called, “This is Enfield 37, I am bagged at this time also.” This
was the code word for shot down. The flight lead Pachmayr 03
called for confirmation, but there was no response. He took
over as the on-scene commander for the rescue of now two
downed A-10s.
Arriving over the suspected positions, the pilots could not
see any A-10 wreckage. As they searched, they were also shot
at by heat-seeking missiles. Pachmayr 03 immediately con-
tacted AWACS and tried to coordinate a search. AWACS noti-
fied the JRCC, and they tasked the recovery to SOCCENT.
SOCCENT immediately began planning a mission, but with no
voice contact or location, and considering the enemy forces in
the area, the mission was not committed. Later, intelligence

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

sources determined that Sweet had been captured and Phylis

had been killed.8
These were not the only enemy successes that day. They had
fired a total of eight observed heat-seeking missiles. Another
struck the aircraft of the A-10 wing commander himself. His air-
craft was severely damaged, but he was able to fly home. Cross-
ing the border he noticed a flight of F-16s hitting targets just
north of the line. Returning to base, he called Glosson and chal-
lenged the efficacy of sending the A-10s deep and the F-16s shal-
low when the F-16s were much more capable of surviving in the
high-threat areas. Glosson took the matter to Horner, who de-
cided to restrict the A-10s to targets along the border. Addition-
ally, he directed that they had to stay above 10,000 feet and not
use the 30 mm gun. This dramatically decreased their effective-
ness, but it also reduced the loss rate. Besides, the F-111s were
now flying in the area steadily, and their tank plinking was dra-
matically reducing the number of usable Iraqi tanks.9

16 February
I077 – UH-60, US Army
The aircraft was on a routine resupply mission and crashed
60 miles southeast of Rafha.10 The Army RCC responded and
sent a recovery aircraft. The crew was recovered uninjured.
This was a noncombat loss.11

17 February
Since early February, targets in the Baghdad area had only
been attacked by cruise missiles. When a missile was captured
on CNN video being shot down, General Powell ordered the ces-
sation of all daytime cruise missile launches. Combined with
the restrictions on F-117 missions, this meant that targets in
the Baghdad area were no longer being hit.12
Coalition air units had also targeted Iraqi bridges, but there
was never a sustained interdiction campaign that came close to
matching the effort being put forth to destroy the enemy units
in Kuwait. The focus of the interdiction was to isolate the bat-
tlefield.

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

At SOCCENT, Colonel Gray still had operational control of

the 3d/160th Battalion, the Army special operations helicopter
unit from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Highly trained, they were
used to working with special operations ground teams and were
providing steady support to the JSOTF operations in western
Iraq. Due to the priority of combat recovery, they were also or-
dered to have aircraft on alert at Rafha and KKMC for immedi-
ate launch in the central CSAR sector. By this late date, they
still had not gotten a CSAR mission and were tired of sitting
alert. They were chafing at the inaction and beginning to won-
der about the sense of it all.

I078/M017 – Benji 53/F-16, USAF

A flight of two F-16s was dispatched on a reconnaissance
mission along the Euphrates River.13 As they turned for home,
the engine of the lead aircraft flown by Capt Scott Thomas be-
gan to fail. He notified AWACS and asked for an immediate vec-
tor to friendly territory. The AWACS controller acknowledged
his call, stated that he had radar contact with the flight, and
gave Thomas a heading.
Thomas also asked that JRCC be informed of his dilemma.
The AWACS controller responded that rescue helicopters were
already airborne. As they headed toward Saudi airspace, the
wingman, 1st Lt Eric Dodson (Benji 54), asked for confirmation
that the rescue forces were airborne. The AWACS controller
reaffirmed that they were but said that he would double-check.
As he was doing so, the engine of Benji 53 seized, and he was
forced to eject.
Benji 54 stayed over his flight lead and became on-scene com-
mander. He saw a good parachute on the ground, then Thomas
contacted him on his PRC-90. Dodson had him switch to the
secondary frequency. Making the change, Thomas stated that
he was down and in good condition.
Dodson reported all of this to the AWACS controller. He could
stay over Benji 53 for only another 15 minutes and asked for a
relief flight. AWACS said they had some A-10s inbound. Dod-
son asked where they were and was told that they were 200
miles south—too far out to relieve him before he had to leave.
He asked that a closer flight be diverted to cover the survivor. A

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

flight of F-15Es was brought in, and Dodson handed the situa-
tion off to them and headed for the F-16 FOL (forward operat-
ing location) at KKMC.
Landing at KKMC, Dodson called the Army SOF guys across
the field to see how the rescue effort was going for his flight
lead. They told him that contrary to what AWACS had reported,
no rescue forces had been sent yet because they had not been
told that positive contact had been established with the pilot.14
Armed with this new information and the position passed
earlier by Dodson, they checked with SOCCENT and were cleared
to take the mission. The unit there at KKMC was the 3d/160th
under the command of LTC Dell Daily. He and several crews
had just returned from a combat recovery practice mission. He
directed one of the young pilots, CW3 Tom Montgomery, to
start planning the mission.
Montgomery jumped to it. Taking the pilot’s reported posi-
tion, he and his copilot, CW3 Joel Locks, went into Intelligence
and began planning a route. Initially two aircraft were avail-
able, so they planned to use both in formation. As they tried to
start the engines, the second aircraft broke, so Montgomery
pressed on alone. It was dark, and he felt that, despite the en-
emy threat, he would be safe enough.
As Montgomery approached the border, the second aircraft
was able to launch. The pilot, CW3 Todd Thelin, with copilot,
CW3 John Aberg, called Montgomery and said that they would
catch him at maximum speed. They joined just as they entered
Iraq. Both crews were flying using NVGs. Flying at 15–20 feet,
their planned route took them around enemy forces in the area.
Montgomery contacted AWACS, who tracked them as they
made their way into the area. He decided that the safest way to
approach Thomas was from the north, so he flew by and made
a right fishhook to fly directly to him.
Hearing the helicopter, Thomas took out his radio and tried
to call them. They were still at about 15 feet altitude and did
not hear him. Overflying the predicted position, Montgomery
called AWACS for a vector. AWACS gave him a precise heading
and distance to the survivor.
Thomas heard AWACS turn the helicopter. He took out his
infrared strobe light and turned it on. It began flashing per-
fectly. Montgomery said,

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

I see a strobe-light. It was pitch dark. I could hardly believe it. . . . So I

called to my wingman, “Hey, there is a strobe-light at 12 o’clock.” I
looked at my GPS—6.7 miles. It’s amazing. So we did an over-flight, saw
people and trucks on the ground about 500 meters away. My wingman
said that he had people and trucks on his side about a click [kilometer]
away. They [the enemy] lit us up with radar, the RWR [radar-warning
receiver] was lit up. . . . We did a right turn and landed down wind, no
big deal. Thomas was standing there like he was waiting for a bus. The
only thing that saved his butt was that strobe light. That is what we
saw. I landed the aircraft three feet away.15

As the helicopter touched down, Thomas fell into the fetal

position. The crew chief and two Army Special Forces troops
jumped off and grabbed him. They put him on board, reloaded
themselves, and Montgomery took off. As they cleared the area,
they notified AWACS, who then cleared the fighters capping the
operation to hit the enemy troops. They covered the area with
cluster bombs.
As Montgomery flew outbound with his survivor on board,
the Iraqi radars continued to track them, at one point even fir-
ing a missile, but it did not guide on the aircraft. He and his
wingman stayed at 15 feet until they entered Saudi airspace,
then they climbed and headed for KKMC.16
In the JRCC, Colonel Hampton was pleased with the rescue.
In analyzing the mission, he remembered that, “We got some
good intelligence. We determined that there was not a heck of a
lot around there, not a high military concentration area, so we
were able to get assets across the border from where they
launched. They were able to get up there quickly and pick the
guy up before he was compromised.”17
It was a quick and successful rescue by the Army SOF. After
that, the men of the 3d/160th had a different attitude about
sitting CSAR alert—no more complaining. Col Ben Orrell said
of their metamorphosis, “It was interesting because the night
before the [Benji 53] mission occurred, they came to us and
said that they were sick and tired of this, that they were not
being used for anything and were just sitting there wasting
their time and thought they should be pulled out. I said, ‘Stay
on until the end of the week and I’ll see if I can get you out of
it.’ They got that mission, got to go up there and came back and
said, ‘You know, we think we like this!’ ”18

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

19 February
A large strike package from Proven Force was launched out
of Turkey and struck targets in the Baghdad area. Flying as a
composite force, they preceded the strike with integrated Wild
Weasel attacks against several Iraqi SAM sites. As a result, all
targets were struck, and no aircraft were shot down.
Coalition aircraft were also active farther south. So were the
enemy gunners.

I079 – Nail 53 OA-10, USAF

Flying a forward air controller mission, this aircraft entered
one of the kill boxes in Iraq.19 Lt Col Jeff Fox, the squadron
operations officer, relieved his predecessor on station and be-
gan scanning for targets. His assigned priority was artillery,
tanks, and other vehicles. Entering the area at 17,000 feet, he
gradually descended as he searched for targets. Realizing that
he was down to 8,000 feet, he added power to climb back to
altitude when he felt the aircraft shudder from a solid thump
underneath. He was headed south. For a moment, all seemed
normal. Then warning lights in the cockpit began to illuminate.
The flight controls became unresponsive, and the nose pitched
up slightly. Fox immediately noticed that his hydraulic pres-
sure had fallen to zero. He switched the flight controls to man-
ual reversion and made some emergency radio calls, stating his
position and intentions. Several aircraft answered and began
proceeding to his location.20
Manual reversion had no effect, and the aircraft rolled over
and began to accelerate toward the ground. With no control of
the aircraft, Fox ejected. His chute opened and he heard his
aircraft explode when it hit the ground. The 30 mm rounds in
the gun began to explode. His right heel, elbow, and knee had
been injured in the ejection. He landed near the burning wreck-
age and immediately moved away from the site.
AWACS monitored his emergency calls and reported his
downing to the JRCC. Since he had been working in his as-
signed kill box, they had an approximate location. He was
across the border from the VII Corps, so the JRCC contacted
the Army RCC to see if they could help. The Army would not

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

launch a helicopter because Fox was too deep in enemy terri-

tory. The JRCC did get two A-10 Sandy aircraft scrambled.
On the ground, Fox took out his PRC-112 survival radio and
began calling for help. Several flights answered and headed for
his location. Another forward air controller spotted the smoke
of his burning aircraft and flew to him. The pilot asked for Fox’s
position from the smoke. “One hundred meters south,” Fox re-
plied, as the OA-10 began to orbit overhead.
Unfortunately, Fox had been observed by enemy forces as he
descended. An Iraqi soldier carrying a rifle rapidly approached
shouting in Arabic and firing his rifle at Fox. The wounded pilot
tried to run away, but the soldier closed on him. The fighters
began arriving overhead and called Fox for direction. Fox eyed
the Iraqi soldier who was now just about upon him. Realizing
that the race was lost, Fox keyed his radio and said, “Okay, it’s
too late guys, he’s here.” He was taken prisoner.21 With the loss
of voice contact, and his location well within enemy units, any
thought of a rescue was abandoned.

***

Watching the imminent approach of the ground battle phase

of the war, Brig Gen Buster Glosson decided to communicate
again with all of his crews. Given the level of activity by all,
visiting the bases again was impractical. Instead, he sent a
message to all units. It said:
All of you heard me say earlier that not one thing in Iraq is worth dying
for, and that was true. Sometime in the next week, there is going to be
a lot worth dying for in Iraq. We call them American soldiers and ma-
rines. When I said that I wanted a minimum loss of life, we cannot draw
distinctions between Americans who die. If a marine dies or a soldier
dies, it’s all the same to me as one of you dying. For that reason, there
will be no restrictions placed on you by anyone. The individual fighter
pilot or flight lead will decide what is necessary.22

Going into the ground war, it was “no holds barred.” The air-
crews could lay it all on the line.

20 February
An F-16, Barretta 11, from Proven Force could not refuel
from a tanker and tried to divert to Diyarbakur, Turkey. He

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

flamed out on short final and ejected. Local Turkish forces re-
covered the pilot. This was the only aircraft lost in the northern
operation.23
In the Persian Gulf, a small but historically significant force
entered the fight. AV-8s from VMA-331 aboard the amphibious
ship USS Nassau (LHA-4) launched to strike Iraqi targets. This
was the first time ever that vertical-assault aircraft had taken
off from a helicopter landing ship and struck enemy targets.
Before the end of hostilities, the squadron would fly 243 inter-
diction and close air support sorties.24
As G-day (beginning of the ground attack) approached, the
pace was frantic for the ground units. Their helicopters were
constantly in the air.

I080 – Lady Ace 03/CH-46, USMC

This aircraft from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 165
was returning from a night priority mission when it encoun-
tered a fog bank.25 While attempting to land in the fog and blow-
ing sand, the aircraft touched down in a sideward drift and
crashed. Fuel tanks ruptured and the aircraft was destroyed.
The crew and passengers escaped uninjured. This was subse-
quently determined to be a noncombat loss.26 More importantly,
though, it illustrated the difficulty of helicopter operations in
the region. The combination of fog and blowing sand was a dan-
gerous condition that could cause terrible disorientation for the
aircrews during the most critical phase of flight.

I081 – Tango 15/OH-58, US Army

The aircraft from the 24th Infantry Division was part of a
package of Scouts and Apaches that was performing a night
reconnaissance mission deep in Iraq.27 It went down in bad
weather 55 miles southeast of Salman Air Base, Iraq. An initial
search was unsuccessful, and the Army RCC requested help
from the JRCC. Aircraft were diverted into the area and started
an electronic search, but no beepers were heard, and no voice
contact was made. SOCCENT was contacted and began plan-
ning a mission pending voice contact. The Army RCC set up a
restricted operating area around the last-known position for
the crew. The next morning, they dispatched a helicopter task

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

force on a search mission. They found both crewmembers dead

in the aircraft wreckage.28

Special Forces Team ODA 525

This was not a CSAR action in the strictest sense—the Army
calls such missions “emergency exfiltrations”—but the exploits
of Army Special Forces team ODA 525 approximate one in al-
most every way. This team from the 1st Battalion of the 5th
Special Forces Group was inserted into Iraq on a strategic re-
connaissance mission in the early hours of 24 February. The
eight-man team was carried in by two MH-60s from the
3d/160th, the same guys who had rescued Capt Scott Thomas
(Benji 53) eight days prior.
Each team member carried 150 pounds of equipment as the
helicopters flew them deep into Iraq. Flying for almost two
hours, they were dropped off about 30 miles north of Nasiriyah
along Highway 8. Their assigned task was to monitor road traf-
fic in direct support of the XVIII Airborne Corps that would
soon be sweeping into Iraq.
Team chief CW2 Richard Balwanz’s orders from the Corps
commander were direct. “He wanted to know what the enemy
was doing in that area,” Balwanz recalled. “He wanted to know
what kind of equipment was coming down that highway, or
leaving.” He wanted HUMINT—human intelligence—guys on
the ground to observe for him. The men of ODA 525 were his
guys.29
But the infiltration did not go as expected. As the two heli-
copters entered Iraqi airspace, they were contacted and told to
abort the mission and return to base. Turning around, they
were redirected to land at Rafha and refuel, pending a change
of mission. As the helicopters fueled, the team was again or-
dered to execute. The two helicopters lifted off and headed for
the assigned position.
Unfortunately, the delay caused a navigation problem. The
helicopters were using GPS to navigate. As they approached
the hide site, their GPS lost contact with its satellites and
stopped updating. Even with 16 satellites now in orbit and pro-
viding specific passage over the Gulf region, there were still
occasional gaps in coverage that caused tactical problems for

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

the warriors below who had become used to the ease, conve-
nience, and precision of GPS navigation. As backup, they had
to navigate by compass and map. In doing so, the pilot of the
lead aircraft got too low and hit a sand dune. This knocked off
one of the landing wheels. Unfazed, the crew proceeded. As
they approached the drop-off point, the pilots stopped at two
other locations as insertion decoys just in case any enemy
troops were watching.
Landing at the estimated site, the team hopped off into the
clear night. Balwanz did a quick head count and waited to en-
sure that they had not been observed. He did not want to let
the helicopters leave if they had been compromised. When all
was in order, he let them go. The team was alone.
Balwanz turned on his GPS receiver. The satellites were back
in position, and he was able to get a precise fix on their loca-
tion. They were 1,500 meters north of where they were sup-
posed to be. The team started moving. Arriving at their assigned
position, Balwanz decided to split his team into two sections
and locate them so that each had an excellent view of the high-
way just 300 meters away. The men started to dig their hide
sites. The ground was hard, and they finished just as the sun
was rising.
It was not too soon, because 30 minutes later, civilians began
to come into the fields. Some were there to work the crops. Some
were gathering wood. Some were children playing. They were
accompanied by grazing animals that moved toward the team.
The men crouched in their holes, but to their horror, two
small children wandered up to Balwanz’s site. Curiously peer-
ing under the camouflage net, one of them said “enemy” in
Arabic, then they screamed and ran away. The men immedi-
ately grabbed their weapons, but Balwanz did not tell anybody
to shoot. “We are not going to shoot any unarmed civilians,
especially children,” he said. Instead, he grabbed the radio to
call the other element. They had been compromised and they
needed to leave.
As both groups rendezvoused in a nearby canal, Balwanz
called Corps headquarters and asked for an exfiltration. He
moved the team about 200 meters away, but still in a position
where they could see the road, and waited. Balwanz could see
other civilians, but there was nothing unusual in their activities.

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

Now convinced that the children had not raised any alarm, he
decided to continue the mission and so notified headquarters.
For the next four hours, they monitored and reported the
traffic. It was steady heading north but sparse heading south.
Then he spotted some more children heading his way. This
time, they were accompanied by an adult. As they approached,
Balwanz stood up and greeted him in Arabic. The man mum-
bled something that they did not understand and, with the
children, ran away. They watched him head into town.
Alarmed, Balwanz began to move his team away from the vil-
lage. He spotted several unarmed young men in military uni-
forms moving toward him. He yelled at them in Arabic to stop.
They were joined by a group of older men with antique rifles.
Not far behind them were several trucks carrying an estimated
150 soldiers armed with AK-47s.
Balwanz called Corps headquarters again, gave them the
teams updated GPS coordinates, and asked for an expedited
emergency exfiltration. He also told them that he was about to
be attacked by a company-size force. They replied that the he-
licopters were on the way.
As the soldiers moved to flank them, Balwanz had his team
gather all their gear except for weapons and a few radios and
rig it for destruction. They set the explosive and moved away
from it. As the charge went off, the Iraqis started to shoot at
them. Balwanz did not want to fight, but he had no choice. He
cleared his men to engage the force. They started dropping the
Iraqi soldiers and killed 40 in ten minutes.
The team could see that other soldiers had run over to the
road and were flagging down military vehicles. More enemy
were joining the fight. The team needed some heavier firepower
and fast. When the Corps headquarters launched the helicop-
ters, they contacted AWACS and had them send an airborne
forward air controller to the team’s location. The forward air
controller, call sign Pointer, orbited over their position and tried
to talk with them. The team’s primary radio had failed. One of
the soldiers had a PRC-90 survival radio. He turned it on and
was able to make contact with Pointer. When the forward air
controller had a feel for the situation, he started calling for air
support. AWACS started diverting strike flights to him.

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

Photo courtesy of Bill Bryan

Capt Bill Andrews, far right, led the successful rescue of ODA 525 from deep
inside Iraq. He was later the subject of a CSAR himself as Mutt 41. He is shown
here with other members of Mutt flight, left to right, 1st Lt Pete McCaffrey, Capt
Evan Thomas, and 1st Lt Joey Booher.

The first flight was four F-16s. They were carrying CBU-87
cluster bombs. Such weapons are terribly destructive and to-
tally indiscriminate. Before anything could be dropped, the for-
ward air controller needed to make sure that the strike pilots
could see the team. That is difficult on the best of days, but us-
ing some of the natural landmarks, the ground team was able
to “talk” the forward air controller and strike pilots onto their
location so that they could drop their ordnance without harm-
ing the team. The F-16s dropped their CBUs on the vehicles
and troops. A following convoy of troops saw the destruction
and wisely declined to join the battle.
The team redirected the F-16s to more enemy forces. The
second flight dropped more CBUs with similar results. The for-
ward air controller then diverted them to still another gathering
group of enemy. That had the same result. The immediate threat
was eliminated.
Balwanz spotted three soldiers who had survived the air strike.
He personally shot them. He then had the F-16s hit some more
vehicles and soldiers on the road before they had to leave.

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

By now the forward air controller was low on fuel and had to
depart. He handed off the fight to four F-16s from the 10th TFS.
They were led by Capt Bill Andrews. Before letting Pointer leave,
Andrews had the team flash a mirror at them so he had a posi-
tive fix on their location. Then, he and his flight continued to
ring the team with explosive steel.30
Andrews and his flight stayed over the men as the day grew
late. Repeatedly, the team called for the CBU. The pilots dropped
it as close as they thought safe. The team demanded it even
closer. The pilots complied, until the bomblets were exploding
less than 100 meters from Balwanz and his men. It broke the
enemy attack.31
With the sun setting, Balwanz moved his team west about
300 meters to a better landing zone for the helicopters. It also
put some distance between them and the enemy force. There,
another F-16 overhead told them that the helicopters were just
10 minutes out.
When the MH-60 helicopter crew contacted them on their
PRC-90, Balwanz transmitted a homing signal that the rescue
crew was able to follow for the last mile. They came in and
landed right next to the team. As the F-16s orbited protectively
overhead, Balwanz and his men scrambled on board and headed
for home.32
Landing back at their base, Andrews and his flight mates
jumped in a jeep and drove over to the intelligence shop. They
asked the officer there if he could check on the status of ODA
525. He made a few calls and was able to inform them that all
eight men had made it out safe and unharmed. It was a suc-
cessful rescue.33
There were other teams, also. While not counted as CSARs,
their rescues were similar. It was the same helicopter crews,
using the same techniques. Throughout the war, teams of US
Army, Navy, Marine, and coalition forces operated throughout
Iraq and Kuwait. Most of their stories are untold. Most are still
classified. But it was the flyers of SOCCENT, the Army, Air
Force, and Navy who took them in and brought them out.
Someday, their stories will be told, as well.
Again, the ODA 525 recovery showed the absolute efficacy of
GPS. It was GPS that enabled the relatively rapid dispatch of
the helicopters. Knowing exactly where they needed to go, they

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

were able to actually preplan the mission, only pausing for last-
minute updates before launching for the recovery. A postwar
report explained how basically simple this was using GPS. It
said that, “with start and end points available to the user, navi-
gation could be accomplished without the need for charts or
observation of any object or reference point other than the re-
ceiver display.”34 The key was in having a known “end point.”
The absolute value of GPS was also highlighted in another
small incident that, in the larger swirl of the war, was probably
not noted by anybody at the command level. It occurred on a
Navy SEAL mission that took place off the coast of Kuwait at
roughly the same time as the Balwanz mission. The small team
had completed its tasks and was awaiting extraction. As the
recovery vehicle approached, the team inadvertently dropped a
valuable piece of equipment into the water. They could not de-
lay their pickup to retrieve it. Instead, they marked the position
with their GPS receiver. The next night, using their GPS for
navigation, they slipped back in and recovered it. The report
went on to state that, “The [SEAL] team’s vulnerability to expo-
sure (surveillance or fire) was directly reduced by GPS naviga-
tion accuracy.”35
It was a simple act, a small footnote to a much larger war.
But these two events showed the potential that GPS offered for
safely recovering isolated personnel behind enemy lines.

Notes
1. Murray Williamson with Wayne Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf
(Baltimore, MD: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1996),
204.
2. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log, DS box, Joint Personnel Re-
covery Agency, Fort Belvoir, VA, n.d. [hereafter USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/
Mission Log].
3. Stan Morse, ed., “Gulf Air War Debrief” (hereafter GAWD), World Air
Power Journal (London, UK: Aerospace Publishing, 1991), 227; and Charles
Allen, Thunder and Lightning: The RAF in the Gulf: Personal Experiences of
War (London, UK: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1991), 117.
4. Edward Marolda and Robert Schneller Jr., Shield and Sword (Washing-
ton, DC: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, 1998), 197.
5. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
6. Robert J. Sweet, oral history interview (Colorado Springs, CO: Air Force
Academy, 28 June 1991).

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 DESERT STORM WEEK FIVE

7. Ibid.
8. Tape of mission of Pachmayr 01 flight on 15 February 1991; and William
L. Smallwood, Warthogs: Flying the A-10 in the Gulf War (Washington, DC:
Brassey’s Press, 1993), 178–80.
9. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 259.
10. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
11. Message, JRCC A/R 171430Z FEB 91.
12. Michael R. Gordon and Gen Bernard E. Trainor, The Generals’ War:
The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf (New York: Little, Brown and Co.,
1994), 327.
13. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
14. William L. Smallwood, Strike Eagle: Flying the F-15E in the Gulf War
(Washington, DC: Brassey’s Press, 1994), 126.
15. CW3 Tom Montgomery, interview by the author, 22 July 2000. The
crew consisted of: CW3 Tom Montgomery; CW3 Joel Locks; SFC Paul Laduca;
SGT Kurt Hixenbaugh; PFC William Mudd; SFC Edmund Wilson; and SSG
Douglas Patterson.
16. Lt Gen E. M. Flanagan, “Hostile Territory Was Their AO in Desert
Storm,” Army, September 1991, 12; and Montgomery, interview.
17. Lt Col Joe Hampton, interview by the author, 12 March 2000.
18. Col Ben Orrell, interview by the author, 17 January 2002.
19. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
20. Smallwood, Warthogs, 184.
21. Ibid., 185.
22. Al Santoli, Leading the Way: How Vietnam Veterans Rebuilt the U.S.
Military: An Oral History (New York: Ballantine Books, 1993), 205.
23. Desert Storm Narrative log, JPRA/Desert Storm file, box 15c1.
24. Marolda and Schneller, Shield and Sword, 241.
25. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
26. History, 3d Marine Air Wing (3 MAW), Marine Attack Squadron VMA-
311, (Washington, DC: Marine Corps Historical Center, 1 January–28 Febru-
ary 1991), 150.
27. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
28. Message, RCC A/R 211430Z FEB 91, ARCENT G-3 AVIATION, After
Action Summary, 5 April 1991; and James W. Bradin, From Hot Air to Hellfire:
The History of Army Attack Aviation (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1994), 185.
29. Dale B. Cooper, “Bulldog Balwanz and his Eight Man Army,” Soldier of
Fortune, May 1992, 32.
30. Edward Herlick, “Daring Rescue Deep in Iraq,” Military History, De-
cember 1994, 62.
31. Ibid.
32. Cooper, “Bulldog Balwanz,” 32.
33. Herlick, “Daring Rescue,” 62.
34. CDR Patrick Sharrett et al., “GPS Performance: An Initial Assess-
ment,” Navigation Journal, vol. 39, no. 1 (Spring 1992), 402.
35. Ibid.

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 Chapter 7

Desert Sabre Week Six:

21–28 February 1991

War is still, when you get to the bottom line, killing, maiming,
and wanton destruction.
—Lt Gen Chuck Horner

21 February
Delta Force commandos in the JSOTF, working in western
Iraq, stumbled into a major firefight, took some casualties, and
requested a medical evacuation. An MH-60 from the 3d/160th
flew in to get them. When it returned to ArAr, the weather was
terrible, with fog severely limiting visibility. The pilots were un-
able to land in the fog and crashed, killing all aboard.1 It was
not listed as a combat loss.
For the pending ground campaign, almost all air effort was
refocused on the Kuwaiti theater. The F-111Fs were directed to
hit Iraqi artillery. F-117s were refragged to hit key command
and control centers for specific units.2
In preparation for the ground war, aviation units from the
XVIII Airborne Corps began operations into southern Iraq. One
helicopter operation attacked a fortified bunker and took 406
prisoners to include a battalion commander.3
Elements of the 1st Marine Division began infiltrating into
Kuwait in preparation for the ground war, now scheduled to
begin on the 24th. The marines found the enemy resistance
surprisingly light. They were able to penetrate the first lines of
enemy wire and mines. In the process, they began to collect
significant numbers of prisoners.4

23 February
In the early morning hours the 2d Marine Division began
cross-border operations in preparation for the main attack. In
one sharp engagement, they destroyed 20 Iraqi tanks and 25

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 DESERT SABRE, WEEK SIX

46°30' 47°00' 47°30' 48°00' 48°30'

Hawr al Hammar E A "Thomas"

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WEEK 6

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21-28 FEB

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Al Basrah

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30°00' 30°00'
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Corps
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29°00' 29°00'
Al Jaber
To Hafar al Batin
JFC-N Jump 42
© Darrel Whitcomb, 2002
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Airfields
Major roads
USMC 77 Mina’ Sa’ud

International boundaries Al Wafrah

0 40 km.
USMC
28°30' 0 25 mi. 28°30'
Ras Al Khafii
SAUDI ARABIA JFC-E
46°30' 47°00' 47°30' 48°00' 48°30'

other vehicles and captured more than 300 prisoners.5 Air sup-
port from Marine Cobra helicopters, AV-8s, A-6s, and F-18s
and from other services was always overhead, but the Iraqi
ground forces were well protected with SAMs and AAA.

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I083/M018 – Pride 16/AV-8 Harrier, USMC

Capt James “LZ” Wilbourn, VMA-542, was reported lost on a
night sortie five miles north of the Ali Al Salem Air Base.6 Flying
with Maj Dan Peters, he had already flown one mission over
Kuwait. Returning with another load of bombs, they rendez-
voused with a Marine A-6 that had a lucrative target.
Due to the darkness, the Harrier pilots made individual
passes. Peters watched Wilbourn roll in on the target. He lost
sight of the Harrier in the darkness but did observe the explo-
sion of Wilbourn’s bombs. This was followed almost immedi-
ately by another larger blast. Peters thought it was a secondary
explosion, but when Wilbourn did not answer his radio calls,
Peters realized that he was down. He initiated CSAR proce-
dures, and throughout the night, crews in F-15Es, F-111s, and
AV-8s searched for him.
Peters did not see what shot down Wilbourn. It was entirely
possible that he became fixated on his target and flew into the
ground.7 The young captain was the first US marine actually
confirmed as killed in the war.8

24 February
For the last several weeks, under the protective umbrella of
US and coalition airpower, the ground forces had moved a mas-
sive two-corps force west to be in position to envelop the mass
of Iraqi troops in Kuwait and strike a decisive blow against the
Republican Guard units. The GPS system was the great en-
abler. Never before had such a force been able to accurately
move across the desert in this manner. Indeed, Saddam and
his commanders were surprised by the ability of the coalition
forces to move as accurately and quickly as they did.9 They
thought that the desert was their best defensive feature be-
cause, heretofore, precise cross-country travel in the desert
could only be accomplished using the few roads available. The
Iraqi forces had them all covered with strong, entrenched forces.
General Schwarzkopf would use his navigational advantage to
go around them.
There was some risk involved in putting such reliance on the
GPS system. Making it available to the maximum number of

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receivers meant some constraints and safeguards built into the

system had to be relaxed. This made it available to anybody
who procured commercially available receivers and locked onto
the satellites. This most certainly included the Iraqis, but there
is no evidence that they ever did so or even realized the value of
the GPS system.10
This huge coalition maneuver to the west would be supported
by a combined Arab and US Marine/Army attack directly into
Kuwait as well as an amphibious demonstration off the coast
designed to pin Iraqi forces on the beaches. CENTAF was pre-
pared to support all the elements of the attack. At the after-
noon staff meeting, General Horner told them, “There are peo-
ple’s lives depending on our ability to help them, if help is
required. So I want a push on. I want people feeling compulsion
to hit the target. I do not want fratricide . . . but up over the
battlefield, it’s time to go to work because other people’s lives
depend on ours. It’s no longer a case of air just risking their
own lives; other lives have to be considered.”11
He took all restrictions off of his aircrews; they could fly as
low as they felt necessary to accomplish the mission. There
were two other dictating factors. First, a messy weather front
moved in bringing with it low clouds, reduced visibility, and
even icing at higher altitudes. This forced the pilots to go in
below the clouds so that they could accurately see their targets
for precision attacks. Second, the Iraqis started igniting the oil
wellheads, creating huge petroleum fires with billowing clouds
of thick smoke. This had an especially detrimental effect on the
sensor and aiming systems of the aircraft.12
This change in tactics pushed the aircrews down into the
guns and the heat-seeking missiles. One pilot described the
danger as he returned from a target near Basra:
The AAA was heavier than I had ever seen it. What we didn’t know was
that two Republican Guard divisions had moved onto the road along
our route of travel. I will never, ever, forget what that looked like. Just a
wall of AAA. Down low there was an illusion of going down a tunnel
because the AAA just kind of parted in front of us and passed over the
top of the aircraft. It was so thick I just squeezed down into my seat and
waited to get hit. What else could I do? I couldn’t turn around. I couldn’t
go left, couldn’t go right. My whole philosophy was, “I’m going to get
through this stuff as fast as I can.”13

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At 0100L the ground offensive, code-named Desert Sabre,

started. On the far west, the French 6th Light Armored Division
moved north to screen the entire left flank of the coalition force.
To their right, the US Army 101st Airborne Division started a
massive entire brigade air assault to a position just short of the
Euphrates River. This mass of helicopters was covered by
swarms of A-10s and F-16s, all in contact with the air liaison
officers (ALO) with those units. They were the lead elements of
the XVIII Airborne Corps.
Also assigned to the XVIII Corps were the 24th Mechanized
Infantry Division and the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment. Their
tanks and armored personnel carriers were the last to step out
behind the French units and American helicopter-borne forces.
To the right of them was the VII Corps with several heavy
mechanized and armored divisions and a British armored divi-
sion. Their specific target was the Republican Guard. Their
mission was simple in statement—destroy the crème of Iraq’s
ground forces. Their attack would begin on the 25th.
To their right were the Arab forces of Joint Forces Command
North (JFC-N). They would enter Kuwait with the two divisions
of US Marine forces. One, the 2d Marine Division, had an Army
armored brigade attached to it. Called the “Tiger” Brigade, it
was a powerful addition to the Marine force. Along the coast was
another smaller Arab force, Joint Forces Command East (JFC-
E). Above them all swarmed masses of A-10s, F-16s, AV-8s,
Tornadoes, Jaguars, F-18s, A-6s, F-15s, and countless helicop-
ters ready to pounce on any intransigent enemy.
Under constant attack from the air, and now the massed ar-
tillery of the advancing coalition forces, Iraqi gunners were un-
able to shoot down any coalition aircraft. The biggest threat to
the flyers was the possibility of mid-air collisions in the lousy
weather.
The A-10s had been designed for this. They worked well be-
low the clouds and put their 30 mm guns to maximum use.
One flight of A-10s, flown by Capt Eric Salmonson and 1st Lt
John Marks, destroyed 23 tanks. An Iraqi armored column
surrendered to another flight of A-10s.14
Poised to attack directly into Kuwait, the Marine units were
worried about the massed Iraqi artillery. As they conducted
their breaching operations, they had forward air controllers

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and fighter aircraft monitoring the artillery counterbattery ra-

dar frequencies. Whenever somebody reported incoming rounds,
the radars could quickly determine the location of the firing
guns. The controllers would pass the coordinates to a forward
air controller overhead, who would then direct an air strike
against it. According to the commander of the 3d Marine Air
Wing (3 MAW), Maj Gen Royal Moore, the system worked amaz-
ingly well.15
As the marines breached the Iraqi lines of trenches and wire,
fighter aircraft were constantly overhead. The enemy was well
supplied with air defense weapons. A flight of two F-18s tran-
siting to hit targets near Kuwait City were both struck by heat-
seeking missiles. Each aircraft lost an engine but was other-
wise okay. The pilots flew them home to their base at Shaikh
Isa, Bahrain.16
Almost all breaching operations were successful, and the
Marine task forces and Tiger Brigade moved deep into Kuwait
ahead of schedule. Watching the battle develop, General Schwarz-
kopf was pleased at the weak response of the Iraqis, but as the
marines surged forward ahead of schedule, he became alarmed
that they were becoming overexposed. Sensing that their flanks
were unprotected, he called Lieutenant General Khalid and
asked him if he could have the Egyptian and Syrian forces to
the left of the marines move up their attack. The Arab forces
refused, citing weather problems. General Schwarzkopf then
called the commander the of 3d Army, Lieutenant General Yeo-
sock, and directed him to begin the attack of the VII Corps
early so that the forces fleeing Kuwait could not escape into
southern Iraq.17
Caught by surprise, VII Corps nevertheless launched its at-
tack that afternoon at 1430L when the 1st Mechanized Infan-
try Division unleashed its artillery. In the next 30 minutes the
massed battalions fired 6,136 rounds and 414 MLRS (multiple-
launch rocket system) rockets against the stunned enemy
forces. Then, as the artillery guns reduced their rate of fire,
combat engineers began cutting lanes through the enemy
berms and lines of wire. The largest concentration of armored
power since World War II was about to enter Iraq en route to
Kuwait.18

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 DESERT SABRE, WEEK SIX

25 February

The Iraqis appeared to have finally recognized the magni-

tude of the coalition force coming at them. Several of the Re-
publican Guard and regular army armored units were ordered
to establish screens behind which its forces could evacuate Ku-
wait. As the Iraqi forces retreated, they set fire to more of the oil
wellheads. The raging fires produced billowing clouds of thick
smoke. A weather front moved in with lowering ceilings and re-
duced visibility. The combination made it challenging for the
aircrews to work and forced them to even lower altitudes where
enemy gunners were waiting.
On the ground in Kuwait, the Iraqi III Corps counterattacked
the 1st Marine Division as it came out of the barriers. Just after
sunrise, two Iraqi mechanized brigades slammed into the right
flank of the division. They appeared out of the Burgan oil field.
The marines struck back with armor, TOW (tube-launched, op-
tically tracked, wire-guided) missiles, artillery, and waves of air
support. The battle was intense, and at one point, the Iraqis
maneuvered to within 400 meters of the division command
post.19 Underneath the continuous air support, Cobra gun-
ships stayed online and continuously launched more TOW mis-
siles at any enemy vehicles that were not burning.
Another enemy force hit Task Force Papa Bear, the second
element of the division to breach the enemy lines. The battle
there was just as confused, and at one point fighting extended
almost into the regimental command post before the Iraqis were
repulsed. Flights of fighter aircraft were constantly overhead.
The crew of an OV-10, flying in support of the division, spotted
Iraqi forces regrouping on the east side of the Burgan oil field
and was able to bring in AV-8s and Cobra gunships to destroy
several vehicles and scatter the force.20
Approaching the Al Jaber Airfield in Kuwait, Task Force Rip-
per of the 1st Marine Division called for massive air support.
A-10s, F-18s, and AV-8s answered the call, and Marine for-
ward air controllers in OV-10s directed flight after flight of
fighters and AH-1 Cobra gunships against the hapless enemy
troops and tanks.21

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(No mission number) – Jump 42/AV-8, USMC

That morning, as bad weather lingered over the Kuwaiti bat-
tlefields, Capt Scott Walsh launched on the wing of Maj Dan
Peters out of their base at King Abdul Aziz Air Base, Saudi Ara-
bia.22 Their first sortie took them to a large enemy column op-
posing the Marine 2d Division. Recovering at the forward operat-
ing location at Tanjib, they refueled and rearmed their aircraft
and took off again to fly another mission in support of their fel-
low marines. Entering the target area Walsh got separated from
his flight lead. Staying below the clouds, he attempted to rejoin
on another flight of Harriers. As he maneuvered, his aircraft
was hit by a heat-seeking missile. The missile impacted the
right rear exhaust and severely damaged the aircraft.23
Initially angered at having been hit, Walsh quickly surveyed
the damage. “The blast blew a lot of the right flaps off, put sev-
eral holes in the wing, and set fire to the fuel in the wing tanks,”
he remembered. The fast forward air controller (FASTFAC)
working with him, Combat 13, joined up on him to inspect his
aircraft. Not impressed with the flames streaking behind
Walsh’s aircraft, he suggested that Walsh eject.
Walsh observed the savage ground battle raging below him
and decided to stay with the aircraft as long as possible. He jet-
tisoned all of his ordnance to lighten his aircraft. The FASTFAC
suggested that he land at the Al Jaber Airfield that was in the
process of being liberated that morning. As the squadron intel-
ligence officer, Walsh knew that the airfield was scheduled to
be seized that morning by the 1st Battalion of the 7th Marines,
part of Task Force Ripper. He concurred with the FASTFAC and
set course for the airfield. As he prepared to land there, Cap-
tain Walsh realized that the airfield was not, in fact, under
friendly control. Furthermore, his landing gear would not lower.
He quickly considered making a vertical landing, but his nozzle
control was not responding properly, and the aircraft was barely
controllable.24 All of these factors ruled out landing at Al Jaber.
Walsh shoved his throttle forward and overflew the airfield. He
would try to make it to friendly lines before ejecting.
As he turned to head south, his hydraulic system pressure
slowly depleted and his flight controls froze. No longer able to
control the aircraft, he was forced to eject. As the F-18 capped

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 DESERT SABRE, WEEK SIX

him from above, he floated to the ground in sight of forward

elements of the task force. Immediately, the pilot in Combat 13
called the Marine TACC and reported that Jump 42 had been
shot down and the pilot was alive on the ground. They quickly
began to form a helicopter task force to get him out, but com-
manders on the ground had also watched Walsh go down. Al-
most simultaneously, calls were made to the forward elements
of the task force to send out patrols to recover the young pilot.
Landing near an abandoned Iraqi bunker just west of the
runways, Walsh oriented himself and quickly took shelter in a
trench. He took out his pistol and radio and then called the
aircraft above to let them know that he was okay. Once they
acknowledged, he started moving south. Within a few minutes
he encountered one of the Marine infantry teams who had been
dispatched by the task force. They rescued him and took him
back to the rear. There he gave their intelligence section a quick
briefing on what he had seen, then got on a helicopter that took
him back to his base.25

I084 – Pepper 77/OV-10, USMC

Working a few miles out from the 1st Marine Division, another
OV-10 forward air controller was looking for remnants of the
Iraqi force that had attacked that morning.26 Maj Joseph Small
and Capt David Spellacy were shot down by a heat-seeking
missile five miles southwest of Mina Abd Allah, Kuwait, while
supporting the drive of the 1st Marine Division. A ground for-
ward air controller, Shotgun 212, observed the explosion and
immediately tried to mount a rescue with ground forces. The
pilot of an AV-8 working with Pepper 77 reported that he
watched Iraqi AAA guns bracket the small aircraft and saw the
launch of the missile. Major Small described what happened. “I
was in a shallow right hand turn when we were hit on the right
wing by a shoulder launched missile. . . . There was a loud ex-
plosion. The aircraft immediately went out of control.”27
Small fought to control his aircraft, but it was severely
wounded and could not respond. He ejected. After his para-
chute opened, he took out his survival radio and made an
emergency call.

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 DESERT SABRE, WEEK SIX

Watching the OV-10 spiral down, the pilot of the AV-8 saw
the parachute and listened for an emergency beeper, but he
never heard Small’s call. Major Small landed among enemy
troops and was immediately captured. Captain Spellacy had
been killed in the explosion.28
The loss of the OV-10 and AV-8 in the area of Al Jaber Air-
field—both to heat-seeking missiles—alarmed the USMC com-
manders in the area. Fearing more losses, they cancelled a he-
licopter-borne assault into Al Jaber. The airfield would be taken
the old-fashioned way—by ground attack.29 The concern of the
commanders was well placed because 71 percent of all coali-
tion aircraft shot down in the conflict were downed by Iraqi
heat-seeking missiles.
In support of the overall movement of the marines, US ships
in the Gulf launched 10 helicopters to stage a fake amphibious
attack along the Kuwaiti coast. Flying at less than 200 feet, the
helicopters carried special electronic emitters that replicated a
much larger force determined to land in the vicinity of the port
of As Shuaybah. At the last minute they pulled up and turned
away. Iraqi forces placed along the coast to repel such an attack
immediately responded with AAA and two Silkworm surface-
to-surface missiles aimed at the coalition fleet. One of the mis-
siles fell harmlessly into the Gulf. The other headed toward the
battleship USS Wisconsin but was engaged and destroyed by
British gunners on HMS Gloucester.
Ashore, the advance of the Marine forces continued unabated
as they progressed to the western beaches of the Khalij Al Ku-
wayt, the bay that protrudes into the middle of Kuwait. There
the Tiger Brigade attached to the 2d Marine Division bottled up
the remaining Iraqis from the southern part of the country at
the city of Al Jahra. With the main highway blocked, a huge
traffic jam formed. This was detected by several intelligence
sources and reported initially to the I MEF (Marine Expedition-
ary Force) commander, Lt Gen Walter Boomer. He ordered his
A-6s, AV-8s, and F-18s of the 3 MAW to attack it.
Other intelligence sources also picked up this movement.
The Marine aircraft were soon joined by Air Force and Navy
fighters, as the TACC began diverting ever more flights to the
growing target. Communications intercepts reported that Bagh-
dad had ordered a general retreat of its forces out of Kuwait.

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Headquarters elements were to lead so forces could be quickly

reconstituted as they moved north of the Euphrates River.30
At the TACC, General Glosson personally called the 4th
Fighter Wing. He wanted to get its F-15Es into this battle.
Speaking directly with the vice wing commander, he ordered
him to get 12 aircraft airborne as soon as possible and up to
the Basra area. The aircraft had just returned from night mis-
sions and needed to be rearmed and refueled. The crews were
beyond their legal limits for crew rest. Glosson waived that and
told them to fly, noting to himself that the poor weather and oil
fires would force them to work dangerously low. Privately, he
expected as many as three would be shot down.31
The American press learned of the jammed highway and
named it the “highway of death.” In fact, few people were actu-
ally killed there, but the spectacle of the uncounted wrecked
and burned vehicles became a metaphor for the fate of the
Iraqi army.32
To the east, the 1st Marine Division steadily advanced to-
ward the Kuwait International Airport and then Kuwait City
itself. After destroying another Iraqi armored force, they se-
cured the outskirts of the city. Then they coordinated with the
Saudi and Qatari forces of JFC-E and the Egyptian forces in
JFC-N to allow their units to pass through the Marine lines and
enter Kuwait City in the van of coalition forces.33
To the west, VII Corps had gotten off to a slow start and was
not through the barriers at sunrise. After some heated phone
calls, the pace of VII Corps picked up as their heavy units
pressed through the gates cut in the Iraqi defenses. Enemy
forces began to react. A large force was detected advancing west
toward the town of Al Busayyah. The leading element of VII
Corps was the 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR). They
slammed into enemy forces near the town and, after calling in
A-10s and other fighter aircraft, destroyed them.34
Following the 2d ACR was the 1st Armored Division. It as-
saulted the town and, after an all-night battle, secured it and
its huge munitions storage area the next morning.35
On the right the other divisions of the corps were in ever-
increasing contact with enemy units. Some surrendered. Many
did not. To the right of the VII Corps, the 1st Cavalry Division
was the strategic reserve for CENTCOM. It was initially assigned

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the task of staging a diversionary attack up the Wadi al-Batin,

the avenue of attack expected by the Iraqis.

(No mission number) AH-64

This aircraft was assigned to the 1st/227th Attack Helicop-
ter Battalion of the 1st Cavalry Division.36 While covering the
division’s initial attack into the tri-border area, battalion heli-
copters came in contact with enemy forces. In the melee, an
Apache was hit by a SAM and crashed. The aircraft hit the
ground hard, but the crew of C Company commander, CPT
Mike Klingele, and CW4 Mike Butler was able to escape the
aircraft. Enemy forces increased their fire. Immediately the
second aircraft in the flight landed near the wreckage, and both
pilots sprinted to it. They were wearing special harnesses with
attachments that could be safely connected to the underwings
of the Apache for immediate extraction. Quickly snapping in,
they signaled for the pilot to lift them out of danger. With the
two men securely attached, the Apache lifted them out to a
safer area where they transferred to an OH-58C.
Slightly wounded, Butler was transferred to the battalion
command and control helicopter. Captain Klingele stayed on
the OH-58 and resumed directing his company as it reattacked
the enemy forces.37

I085 – Health 67/Dalphin, RSAF

The aircraft was second in a flight of two helicopters flying
routine logistics missions in the rear areas.38 The flight entered
some thick fog. The pilot of Health 67 broke formation and
tried to turn out of the weather, crashing 30 miles west of
Dhahran. A passing motorist reported it to RSAF headquarters.
They reported it to the JRCC but took the mission themselves.39
Compared to the rest of the TACC, things were relatively quiet
in the JRCC.
That evening VII Corps headquarters received a new order.
They were to pivot to the east and destroy the Republican Guard
over the next two days. CENTCOM intelligence had detected
that Iraqi units were beginning to pull out of Kuwait. General
Schwarzkopf wanted his heavy corps to swing 90 degrees to the
right and trap them before they got away.40

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26 February
In the early morning hours, Marine helicopters lifted off the
amphibious assault ships USS Nassau, Guam, and Iwo Jima
to conduct feint operations against Iraqi units located on is-
lands at the northern end of the Gulf. Escorted by AV-8s off
the same ships and A-6s from larger aircraft carriers, they at-
tacked enemy units to support the feint. While in the area, the
pilots reported an increasing flow of vehicles moving north out
of Kuwait.41
Far to the west, elements of the XVIII Airborne Corps had
moved into the Euphrates River valley and were turning east to
attack along Highway 8. With massive air support, the 24th
Infantry Division seized the major Iraqi airfields at Tallil and
Jalibah. Its powerful armored forces then continued east as
the left flank of the entire operation. To their right the 101st
Airborne Division was moving its forces forward and preparing
for large air assault operations toward Basra.
To the south the VII Corps with its four heavy divisions and
an armored cavalry regiment was beginning to turn east and
attack into the heart of the Iraqi force. Throughout the day and
night its forces would destroy, piecemeal, several Iraqi armor
and infantry divisions in sharp battles with heavy support from
A-10s, F-16s, and AC-130s.42
That afternoon General Schwarzkopf received a call from
General Powell, who had become concerned at the tone of world
press since the coalition forces had begun destroying the Iraqi
army. The JCS chairman told the CENTCOM commander that
a cease-fire was being discussed in many quarters. Schwarz-
kopf called his commanders and told them to speed up their
attacks against the Republican Guard and begin planning ways
to bring the combat to an end.43
As the enemy forces fled from southern Kuwait, the units
were crowded into an ever-shrinking area around Al Basra.
Both air and ground commanders wanted to get at them, but
there were some complications. The weather was terrible. Low
clouds and billowing thunderstorms continued to hang over
the area, and the smoke from the oil fires just made it worse.
The enemy forces may have been retreating, but they were
maintaining some unit cohesion and were still heavily armed

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 DESERT SABRE, WEEK SIX

and willing to fight back. To deconflict the air and ground ef-
forts, Army commanders moved the fire support coordination
line (FSCL) forward to north of the Euphrates River.
This was an important issue, because the FSCL is of great
doctrinal importance. Beyond the line—away from friendly
ground units—US attack aircraft could bomb targets free of any
concerns that they might interfere with friendly ground opera-
tions. Inside of that line, though, any air strikes had to be under
the control of Air Force air liaison officers or forward air control-
lers. These controllers were assigned directly to the Army ground
units they supported and were positioned to provide coordina-
tion so there would be no interference, or worse, fratricide.
As the ground battle swept forward, senior Army command-
ers changed the FSCL often. This caused continuous friction
with the ongoing air attacks against the fleeing enemy units.
The air commanders were concerned and increasingly focused
their attention on the problem. It also caused a lot of confusion
among the aircrews flying the missions.44 One of the airborne
forward air controllers, CPT Scott Fitzsimmons recalled that it
was difficult to stay up with the constantly changing FSCL amid
the demands placed on him by the constantly changing battle
situation below and the ever-dangerous Iraqi air defenses.45

27 February

In the morning an OA-10 working with the 1st Armored Divi-

sion was hit by an Iraqi heat-seeking missile. The blast severely
damaged the hydraulic systems and made the aircraft difficult
to fly. The young pilot, 1LT Pat Olson, was able to keep the air-
craft flying by switching the flight controls to the manual rever-
sion system. This allowed him to control the aircraft—barely.
The backup system was designed to give a pilot just enough
control to fly out of the battle area and land. Undeterred, the
young pilot decided to attempt a landing at the FOL at KKMC.
He set up for a straight-in landing, but about a half mile from
the runway, he lost control of the damaged aircraft. It rolled to
the left and crashed in a huge ball of flame. He did not eject. The
explosion scattered aircraft parts in all directions with many

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 DESERT SABRE, WEEK SIX

landing on six A-10s sitting at the end of the runway waiting to

take off.46 Several of the aircraft were damaged and could not fly
their missions.
A few minutes later, another forward air controller, CPT Scott
Fitzsimmons, took off to replace Olson over the 1st Armored
Division as it moved east with the VII Corps and mauled the
Republican Guard.

I086/M019 – Magic 14/AV-8, USMC

The pilot, Capt Reginald Underwood, was the wingman in a

flight of two Harriers that launched from the USS Nassau (LHA-
4) in the Persian Gulf.47 Under the control of a USMC FASTFAC
in an F-18, they were directed to bomb enemy vehicles fleeing
Kuwait along the highway north to Basra. In the melee, enemy
forces launched numerous heat-seeking missiles. Underwood’s
aircraft was hit by at least one of them. “I’m hit! I can’t control
it!” he screamed on the radio. When his aircraft hit the ground,
the FASTFAC immediately assumed on-scene commander du-
ties and initiated a rescue effort. JRCC passed the mission to
SOCCENT. They launched two MH-60s and an MH-47 that held
at the border waiting for report of a position and voice contact.
The JRCC diverted A-10s to support them, but Captain Under-
wood had been killed.48
To the northwest, the XVIII Airborne and VII Corps had turned
east and were attacking the Republican Guard. All of their avia-
tion units were heavily engaged in supporting their parent units.

(No mission number) – UH-1, 507th Medical Battalion

The helicopter attached to the VII Corps was hit by enemy fire
while engaged in a medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) mission. AAA
damaged the tail rotor causing the aircraft to go into an uncon-
trollable spin. It crashed killing three crew members and injur-
ing the fourth. The Army RCC directed the recovery operation.49

(No mission number) – UH-60, 1st Infantry Division

Elements of the XVIII Corps discovered the crash of this air-
craft that had been shot down on a ferry mission. All six persons

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 DESERT SABRE, WEEK SIX

on board had been killed. The Army RCC again directed the
recovery operation.50

I087/M020 – Mutt 41/F-16, USAF, and Bengal

15/UH-60, US Army
The XVIII Airborne Corps was making plans to airlift a bri-
gade of the 101st Airborne Division to a position near Basra to
trap remnants of the Republican Guard units as they tried to
flee. Everybody was trying to get at the panicked enemy troops.
A flight of four F-16s from the 10th TFS of the 363d TFW was
launched to provide CAS for the advancing US Army forces.51
They were not immediately needed and diverted to the airborne
controller for a target. They were instructed to hit fleeing Iraqi
units along the Basra road.
About 15 miles away, CPT Scott Fitzsimmons in his OA-10
had arrived in his assigned area. He recalled, “The weather was
real bad. I went in and talked to Warmonger—the Air Support
Operations Center of the VII Corps. They pushed me forward to
an Alpha [holding/contact] point. I talked to the [1st Armored]
Division ALO. He gave me a tasking . . . and pushed me forward
to Chowder 21 who was the ALO for the 2d Brigade.”52
Breaking out below the weather at about 3,000 feet, the young
pilot could see a line of M-1 tanks and M-2 Bradley fighting ve-
hicles several miles long, running north-to-south, and all of
them were slowly moving east. He could see that they were fir-
ing, and in front of them were burning Iraqi tanks, personnel
carriers, and trucks. Some of the Iraqi T-72 tanks were firing in
return, but their shots were bouncing off the M-1s.
The visibility was about three miles with rain showers. The
brigade ALO directed him to attack a tank position several ki-
lometers in front of the M-1s. Fitzsimmons rendezvoused with
a flight of two A-10s. They were carrying Maverick missiles. He
marked the target for them with a smoke rocket. When the
ground forward air controller with the lead battalion confirmed
that he had marked the enemy tanks, he cleared his A-10s to
attack them. The two A-10s made several passes and destroyed
the designated vehicles with missiles and 30 mm cannons.
They were low on gas and had to depart for home.53

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High above and a few miles to the north, the four F-16s of
Mutt flight arrived over the assigned coordinates. The flight
lead, Capt Bill Andrews, flying his 35th combat mission, split
his flight and took his number two man down below the clouds
and smoke to look for targets. Scanning through the smoke
and haze, Andrews did not see anything that appeared lucra-
tive. As he added power to climb back above the clouds, his
aircraft was wracked by a violent explosion. Andrews saw warn-
ing lights illuminate in the cockpit. He could see a bright yellow
glow in his rearview mirror and knew that his aircraft was on
fire. As it pitched over and started to dive at the ground, he
ejected.54
Descending in his parachute, Andrews took out his emer-
gency radio and made several panicked calls as he drifted
through the smoke of the raging battle below. Captain Fitzsim-
mons heard him loud and clear. His response was automatic:
I stuck my nose up and responded. I didn’t know how close Andrews
was. I could hear him well on the radio. . . . Somebody came on the
radio and gave a bulls eye call, “Randolph 200 degrees for whatever it
was.” I whipped out my smart pack and found Randolph, punched in
the coordinates in the INS and according to the INS, I was pretty close.
So I just started heading north thinking that I could help him out. What
I did not know was that the line of tanks that I was working over only
extended about 3 or 4 miles to the north. He was about 12 miles north.
As the tanks moved east they weren’t, I don’t know if they were securing
their flank or what, but as I went more than about 4 miles north, I was
back in enemy territory, but I did not know it. . . . I was at about 2,500
to 3,000 feet. I got hold of him [Andrews]. He was in his chute, near “the
factory,” which was an F-16 geo-reference point. It was unknown to me.
He said that he was coming down just north, just west of the factory.55

Hanging in his parachute, Andrews winced as large-caliber

rounds from the numerous AAA guns flew past him. As he
neared the ground, that firing stopped, only to be replaced by
the whizzing of rifle bullets.
Andrews hit the ground hard and broke his right leg. He re-
leased his parachute and watched several Iraqi soldiers run
towards him. Several were firing their AK-47s. He laid down his
radio and raised his hands. They stopped firing. Fitzsimmons
flew overhead, unaware of Andrews’ situation.
When the soldiers were about 30 feet away, Andrews saw a
SAM being fired behind them. It was tracking the OA-10 flown

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by Fitzsimmons. He quickly grabbed his radio and called for

the OA-10 pilot to break and drop flares.
Above, Fitzsimmons instinctively reacted. He remembered of
Andrews, “He made a radio call, ‘BREAK, ZSUs, MISSILES!’ I
heard that so I just pushed on the stick and almost instanta-
neously, this wall of fire goes over my canopy, I am guessing
from the ZSU. And then I started hammering on the flares and
he made some kind of ‘BREAK LEFT, FLARES, FLARES’ call.
He kept hollering on the radio. . . . And when I looked back two
IR [infrared heat-seeking] surface-to-air missiles had exploded
behind me, biting off on the flares.”56
When the soldiers saw what Andrews had done, they began
firing at him and charged. He dropped the radio and again
raised his hands. They shot his radio to pieces and then did the
same to his helmet, raft, and other assorted equipment. They
then stripped him of the rest of his gear, threw him in the back
of a pickup truck, and took him to a headquarters.57
Reacting as trained and unaware of the events below, Fitzsim-
mons started the process of notification. He reported Andrews’
loss and a quick situation report to AWACS, who forwarded the
information to the TACC. Then, low on gas, Captain Fitzsim-
mons had to depart the area.
Fitzsimmons was able to note Andrews’ general location. Un-
derstanding the overall tactical situation, he said, “I could not
pull off a CSAR that fast. Even if I had been able to get my eyes
on where he was, I do not think that there was anything that I
could have done—we could have had a hundred airplanes and I
am not sure we could have done anything. [A rescue effort] was
probably not a good idea, especially since he was captured and
they—I am sure that I told the [airborne controller] as I was
heading out that I was pretty sure that they [Iraqis] had got him
because he was off the radio.”58 Another OA-10 forward air con-
troller in the area, CPT Gerry Stophel, recorded the entire event
on a small cassette tape recorder he carried in his cockpit.59
The notification of Andrews’ downing came in from AWACS to
the TACC and was quickly brought back to the JRCC. Plotting
the survivor’s location, Lt Col Joe Hampton tasked the mission to
SOCCENT since it was beyond the FLOT. The JRCC intelligence
cell also quickly looked at the situation. They could see that the
survivor was down in an extremely dangerous location.60

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Word of the downing of the F-16 in the midst of the ground

battle rippled through the TACC. Maj Lornie Palmgren, a SOC-
CENT liaison officer working the day shift there, remembered
hearing about it. He noted Andrews’ position on the map, then
walked over to the JRCC intelligence cell. Scanning the loca-
tions of all the Republican Guard units in his immediate vicin-
ity, he recalled that, “It took me about 30 seconds to make a
decision.”
He said to Joe Hampton and the director of the TACC, Col Al
Doman, “We’re not sending two crews out there. That is a high
threat area. That is absolutely ridiculous. Let’s not do this . . .
we can’t handle it. It was daytime. If it had been a nighttime
thing we might have taken another look at it.”61
At SOCCENT the intelligence officer on duty, Capt Jim Black-
wood, took the call. He and his enlisted assistant quickly plot-
ted the downed airman’s location on the SOCCENT threat
board. Like the officers in the JRCC, they could immediately
see that he was down in the midst of the Al Faw Republican
Guard Division and quickly came to the conclusion that any
attempted helicopter rescue in daytime would be far too risky.
Colonels Gray and Johnson were both in the SOCCENT com-
mand center when the call came in. Captain Blackwood briefed
them on the situation. Colonel Gray recalled, “I was sitting
there in the room with Jesse Johnson and we’re looking at the
intel picture along with our intel people and we said, ‘Uh-uh!
This is bad news. We’re not going to do this. There is just no
way.’ It wasn’t a unilateral decision. That was a joint decision
among all of us. ‘We’re not doing that. As much as we hate it we
just can’t go in there. . . . We’d really like to get that guy, but it
was just going to be bad news.’”62
Collectively, they came to the conclusion that first of all, the
risk of losing a rescue helicopter was much too high. Also, the
probability of rescuing the young captain, especially in day-
light, was too low.
Perhaps a night effort was a possibility, but they refused to fly
the mission in daylight and so notified Colonel Hampton.63
Hampton took the call in the JRCC. The refusal led to a heated
discussion between several JRCC personnel. Several questioned
the decision by SOCCENT since helicopters had launched just
a few hours prior for Magic 14, who had gone down about 30

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 DESERT SABRE, WEEK SIX

miles southeast of Andrews’ location. One young USAF officer

went over to talk to a senior ranking USAF officer in the TACC.
The senior officer followed the younger man back to the JRCC
area and overheard the ongoing conversation.64
As one who had been shot down and rescued himself in South-
east Asia, the senior officer understood the importance of rescue
and was not happy with the answer, but there were several
problems ongoing at the time. A larger one had to do with the
rapid movement of the massive Army units, and the senior offi-
cer had been closely monitoring their movement as they swept
towards Basra.
The fast advance of the Army units dictated the constant
changing of the FSCL. The frequent movement of the line east-
ward as the Army VII and XVIII Corps pressed forward was di-
rectly impacting the efforts of the coalition aerial forces to at-
tack the fleeing Iraqi forces.65
The XVIII Corps had been augmented with a strong force of
attack helicopters. It was pushing its lead division, the 101st Air
Assault Division, to launch its AH-64 Apaches against the same
Iraqi units. They needed to use the same airspace as the Air
Force, Navy, and Marine flights above. To deconflict these opera-
tions and prevent fratricide, the FSCL had to be properly placed.
Capt Bill Andrews went down in the middle of this mess.
The senior USAF officer had been working this issue directly
with the Army battlefield coordination element (BCE) in the
TACC. After receiving the news about Mutt 41 and the refusal
of SOCCENT to launch a helicopter, he walked over to the BCE.
He pointed to Andrews’ position on the map. Hampton remem-
bered what happened next:
[The senior USAF officer] said, “You got any choppers up there? Why
don’t you pick the guy up?” And so they launched an Army chopper. . . .
I was in the back of the room, and one of the guys said, “Hey, you had
better go up and find out what is going on. I think we have got some-
thing happening.” I went up there [to the BCE] and [the senior Air Force
officer] told me what he did. [He said], “I talked to the Army guys. Is
there any way to recall them?” I said no.66

Others were attempting to recover Andrews as well. When

word of the loss of Mutt 41 came into the operations center at
KKMC, some of the F-16 guys remembered the effort that had
been made for Scott Thomas, Benji 53, and on their own, de-

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cided to try that approach again. A few went across the field to
visit the Army flyers of the 3d/160th SOAR. One of the Army
pilots present, CW2 Steve Rogers recalled,
They came across the field with the ISOPREP (individual identification
information for Captain Andrews) info and said “You have to go get our
buddy.” Lieutenant Colonel Daily, the 3d/160th commander said, “Hey
I know how you feel, but I can’t launch on what you are doing here. We
will send it up and see what happens.” This information then got passed
up to [SOCCENT]. They turned around and said “Hey, that is good in-
formation.” They then called us back and told us to start planning to go
recover him. So we started planning a night mission. Our call sign was
Asp. We planned a two-ship mission. I sat down at the threat board with
the S-2 [intelligence officer] and he seemed to be well versed in the
threat. We drew a straight line from our location to where he was and
realized that there was just no way. We had to cross the ground battle.
There was just so much air defense stuff going directly to him or even
just trying to scoot around. It was just going to be impossible. So I just
said that the only way to do this is to go out over the water, go up by the
Shott, turn around and come in from the north. We had the fuel to do it
that way.67

Back in the TACC, the Army controllers in the BCE called the
“order” forward to the XVIII Corps. There the commander, Lieu-
tenant General Luck, was skeptical that it was viable and
wanted as much information on it as possible before commit-
ting to the mission. He was unaware that the mission was al-
ready being called forward to the aviation brigade of the 101st
Division.
At the time the 101st had several aviation battalions forward
at a location called objective “Tim” that had been seized by the
3d Brigade of the division just a few hours prior. “Tim” had
been turned into a forward operating base for the aviation ele-
ments and was now called “Viper.” Here the attack battalions
were refueling, rearming, and launching to attack Iraqi units
fleeing north towards Basra. The situation was chaotic, and the
attack crews were being launched with minimum intelligence
or clear objective other than to attack and destroy targets of
opportunity.68 Hearing that XVIII Corp assets were going to at-
tempt a rescue, Colonel Gray at SOCCENT called down to the
3d/160th and told those guys to “turn off their efforts” because
regular Army units were going to try and get him.69
One of the first units into Viper was the 1st Battalion of the
101st Aviation Regiment (1/101) commanded by LTC Dick
Cody. Its companies were assigned missions upon arrival. CPT

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Photo courtesy of Bill Bryan

LTC Bill Bryan commanded the 2d Battalion of the 229th Aviation Regiment
(2/229), one of the most experienced Apache units in Desert Storm. As a young
lieutenant, he had been assigned to F Troop/8th Cavalry in Vietnam in 1972
when one of their helicopters, Blue Ghost 39, was shot down and the crew
killed or captured trying to rescue Bat 21 Bravo. It was a tragic precursor to
Bengal 15.

Doug Gabram, the B Company commander, was ordered to

take his Apaches and attack to the northeast along the cause-
way over a large bog called Al Hammar. He was in the target
area when he heard Andrews’ emergency calls. The calls were
garbled. Reacting instinctively, he quickly checked his flight to
determine that none of his aircraft were down. He then tried to
determine Andrews’ location based on what was being said to
the forward air controller, Nail 51. When the survivor stopped
talking on the radio, Gabram felt that it was just too risky to fly
east to search for him.70
Another battalion that went into Viper was the 2d Battalion
of the 229th Aviation Regiment (2/229). A separate unit origi-
nally located at Fort Rucker, Alabama, it had traditionally been
a training/conversion unit for newly assigned Apache pilots,
but as Desert Shield had grown, it was brought up to wartime

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 DESERT SABRE, WEEK SIX

equipment and personnel levels and deployed to the Gulf.

There, it was assigned to the XVIII Corps and attached to the
101st. It had 18 AH-64 Apaches, three UH-60 Black Hawks,
and some of the most experienced Apache and Black Hawk pi-
lots in the Army. Several had logged extensive combat time in
Vietnam. One of them was the commander, LTC Bill Bryan.
When his lead elements flew into Viper, Bryan met with BG
Hugh Shelton, assistant division commander of the 101st, and
the 101st Aviation Brigade commander. As his helicopters were
being refueled and rearmed, Bryan received his instructions.
Little intelligence was available for his unit’s mission. He was
told to “fly due north, hit the Euphrates River, fly east along the
river until you hit the causeway.” There, the 2/229 was to at-
tack fleeing Iraqi vehicles in a designated engagement area
called “Thomas.” Bryan was urged to move quickly since it ap-
peared that the war would soon end and his commanders
wanted to destroy as many Iraqi forces as possible before any
cease-fire.71
With his mission guidance, Bryan directed his three attack
companies to sequentially strike along the causeway. He would
lead the effort with C Company. B Company, with the unit op-
erations officer, MAJ Mike Rusho, and his assistant, CPT Dave
Maxwell, would be second in one of the other UH-60s; and A
Company would be third. Briefing complete, Bryan’s command-
ers saluted and proceeded to carry out their missions.72
The Apaches that Bryan’s crews flew were specifically de-
signed to destroy enemy armor. The Black Hawks were assigned
to the unit for utility support. As the Apaches were striking the
enemy units, the Black Hawks were moving unit equipment
forward to Viper. They were also launching behind the Apaches
for possible intra-unit rescue duty.
The order to rescue Andrews was passed down through the
101st and to a senior officer at the aviation brigade.73 Initially,
he offered the mission to Colonel Cody and his battalion of
Apaches. Cody looked at the map. Quickly realizing where the
survivor was, he concluded that the mission was far too dan-
gerous and recommended that nobody fly in there.74 The bri-
gade senior officer also knew that the 2d/229th was at Viper.
He called for the commander, Lieutenant Colonel Bryan, but
was told that he, his operations officer, and assistant were out

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 DESERT SABRE, WEEK SIX

flying missions. The operations officer, Major Rusho, had left

another young assistant, 1LT Al Flood, behind to organize the
rearming and refueling operations and to push the gunships
forward. Flood had just arrived in another Black Hawk flown
by CW4 Philip Garvey and CW3 Robert Godfrey. Their call sign
was Bengal 15. They dropped him off and repositioned to the
refueling pit to take on gas. Lieutenant Flood related what hap-
pened:
I heard someone call me on the radio and it was the [aviation] brigade
TOC [tactical operations center]. They were trying to contact our ele-
ments forward but could not, so the brigade TOC contacted me, asked
where I was. I said, “I’m about 200 meters south.”
He said, “Roger, come over to the brigade TOC, I need to talk to you.” So
I . . . walked over there. I talked to the Brigade [senior officer] and that’s
where he briefed me on the situation.
In a nutshell, what he told me was that we had a situation up north, we
were receiving reports of an F-16 pilot who had been shot down over
Republican Guard units that were near where my battalion elements
were in contact with them. He asked me what we had here in the rear,
i.e., at FOB Viper. I told him we had one company which was A Com-
pany, 2d/229th that was ready to launch within 30 minutes. We had
some OH-58s.
Then he said, “Do you have any CSAR assets back here?”
I said, “We have Bengal 15 on the ground. He just came out of hot re-
fuel.”
He said, “Really?”
I said, “Yes sir.”

He said, “I tell you what. Go get the crew and tell them to talk to me. I
need to talk to them about this.”75

Lieutenant Flood then ran to get the two pilots of Bengal 15.
He described what happened when he reached them:
I said, “Listen, the [senior officer] needs to talk with you. We have a res-
cue mission.”
So they walked over to the brigade TAC and he briefed them on what
was going on up north. What he asked them was “Can you guys go and
get him?” Well, the obvious answer was “Yeah!” They were the best UH-
60 pilots that we had in the battalion. That was our mission—for the
UH-60s inside 2d/229th, command and control, aerial resupply and
rescue.
About 5 or 10 minutes later, they were walking back towards the air-
craft, and I asked Garvey and Godfrey what was up.
They said, “Well, got an F-16 guy and he’s been shot down over Guard
units. We’re going to go up there and get him.”

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 DESERT SABRE, WEEK SIX

I said, “Okay. What else?”

Garvey said, “What we want to do is we’re going to get two of the AH-64s
to give us an escort up there.”
I said, “With the A Company guys, right?”
They basically said, “Yeah.”
What I did then was I said, “Okay. You guys are going to crank right
now, right?”
They said, “Yes. We’re heading there now.”
I said, “I will contact A Company and let them know what the plan is
and I will also tell them to contact you as soon as they get ready so you
can give them the details of the mission. Then you can launch off to-
gether.”
I also knew that part of the plan was once they got up farther to the
north, closer to where the actual shoot down had been, that the plan
was that they were going to contact AWACS on guard and the AWACS
would vector them in. They explained that to me as well but we were in
a rush to try to get the mission off as fast as possible so I didn’t pick
their brains for every single detail. Bottom line was they had a mission,
I knew the basic plan of it. Then I contacted A Company on my FM
radio.76
The pilots of Bengal 15 prepared to take off. They had re-
ceived only a generic intelligence briefing on the situation and
no specific information on the particular area into which they
would be flying. They had tactical maps of that section of the
theater, but they had not been updated on the constantly
changing battle situation.77 In the quick discussion with the
senior officer, he had also instructed them to contact their
commander, Lieutenant Colonel Bryan as soon as they got air-
borne.78
The Apaches belonged to A Company of the unit and were
being led by the company commander, CPT Mike Thome. Gar-
vey quickly contacted Thome on the radio. Thome agreed to
cancel his assigned deep-strike mission and provide escort for
the rescue effort. He and Garvey rapidly put together a plan of
action. The battalion had an intra-unit rescue plan if an Apache
went down, but a rescue mission for someone not in the unit
was unrehearsed and needed some thought.79
The senior officer had also told Garvey that the downed air-
man was wounded. Garvey asked that the unit flight surgeon,
MAJ Rhonda Cornum, go with them to provide assistance. She
had ridden in with them to Viper earlier and was nearby. Mo-
ments later three Army Pathfinders arrived to accompany them

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Photo courtesy of Bill Bryan

The crew of Bengal 15 included, left to right, CW3 Gary Godfrey, CW3 Phil Gar-
vey, SGT Dan Stamaris, and SGT William Butts.

for site security.80 All were totally pumped up at the thought of

performing a rescue. Major Cornum later wrote, “This was the
real thing, combat search and rescue. There was no mission
that we trained for that was more important, more exciting, or
more dangerous. My heart beat faster, and my stomach tight-
ened. This was it. We were doing it for real.”81
When everybody was ready, Bengal 15 flight lifted off. Garvey
contacted AWACS, and the controllers began giving them vec-
tors to the survivor’s location. The crew did not contact the
battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Bryan, who had been
listening to the F-16 pilot as he descended in his parachute.
Bryan had a unit plan for such pickups and could have rendez-
voused with them for a larger effort.
While these preparatory events were taking place at Viper, in
the skies over Andrews’ position, AWACS had started diverting
strike flights for the CSAR. One of the first was a flight of four
F-16s, also from the 10th TFS. It was led by Capt Mark Hebein.
Checking in, the forward air controller, Nail 51, asked him to go

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down below the clouds and see if he could find the survivor or
at least find his wreckage.
Hebein was carrying a load of CBU-87. He left his flight
above the clouds and dropped down for a look. He described
what he saw:
I left my flight orbiting above. . . . I said okay, . . . I will make one more
pass, this time, I will go down from east to west and then swing around
out of the sun because it was just setting. I . . . broke out at about
3,500–4,000 feet. Immediately, I could see the crash site and burning
wreckage, about a mile south of me. I said, “He is somewhere between
there and the road,” so I started swinging around and as I looked back
I had a couple of SAMs coming at me. Probably SA-16s . . . so I rolled
out and as I did, I saw immediately all around me red fire-hoses, ZSU
23-4 within 50 feet on all sides. I thought, “Jeez, I am just toast.” So I
threw it into afterburner and pulled back as hard as I could and closed
my eyes because I just knew that I was going to get blown out of the sky.
. . . About this time they [AWACS controllers] are asking me, “Were you
able to see him because we got the helicopter going in,” and I said, “No,
the area is way too hot. Do not send a helicopter in right now.” I tried to
tell them that about three times and it was broken on the [secure] radio
and I said the area was way too hot for any SAR right now. Do not head
into that area, because I know with all that stuff coming up a helicopter
would be toast. And they acknowledged it.82

Nail 51 was low on gas and passed the on-scene command to

Pointer 75, an F-16. Holding above the clouds, Pointer contin-
ued to coordinate to get strike flights in to hit the guns and
SAMs. Two F-18s from Marine Fighter/Attack Squadron 314
(VMFA-314) checked in with Pointer. Initially fragged for an in-
terdiction mission, they, like so many others, were immediately
diverted for CSAR support whenever required. Eager to help,
the two Marine pilots, Capt “Otis” Day, and his wingman, Capt
Paul Demers, set up for the strike as Pointer 75 gave them a
cursory briefing on the situation as he knew it and the intense
enemy antiaircraft threat.
The weather had worsened. Thunderstorms had popped up
and were right over the area. The two F-18s were at 25,000
feet. The forward air controller was above them at 30,000 feet.
Captain Day asked him for a more detailed briefing on the situa-
tion. The forward air controller could not provide one because
he had not been below the clouds. He gave them the coordi-
nates that he had for the survivor. Captain Day was aware of
the threat. His intelligence officer had briefed them before the

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flight. Additionally, his radar warning receiver was barking at

him constantly as new SAM sites tried to track their aircraft.
Captain Day took his flight down below the weather. They
broke into the “clear” at about 8,000 feet. “Clear,” though, was
a relative term. In actuality, the visibility below the clouds was
abysmal because of the oil fires and burning wreckage. As they
cleared the clouds, the enemy gunners and SAM site operators
spotted them and took them under constant fire. After franti-
cally searching, Captain Day found what he thought was the
wreckage. Pointer 75 told him that AWACS had said that a he-
licopter would be approaching from the west for a rescue at-
tempt. Captain Day decided to attack anything that they could
find extending west from the target area. Both men then dropped
their CBUs and bombs on several targets. This was done with-
out any apparent coordination with the elements of the 24th
Infantry Division that were just west of the survivor’s location
and were, in fact, being overflown by Bengal 15. With their ord-
nance expended and now critically short on fuel, the two F-18s
departed the area. Captain Day checked out with Pointer. He
also informed him that the area was much too hot for a rescue
attempt and recommended that they not try it.83
Back below the clouds, the flight of helicopters headed for the
downed pilot. The Black Hawk was faster and moved into the
lead. The Apache pilots had their aircraft at maximum power
but steadily fell behind. They used the turns to close on the
Black Hawk.
AWACS initially took the flight north. With no coordination,
they were taken through the sector of the 24th Infantry Divi-
sion. They overflew its lead unit, the 2d Battalion of the 7th, a
mechanized infantry unit that was in contact with enemy forces.
The visibility was poor due to all the oil fires and burning en-
emy vehicles.
The AWACS controllers turned them east to approach the
survivor’s location. As they neared the enemy lines, the flight
began to take fire from enemy positions. Just then, the AWACS
controller told them that they were “entering a red zone,” and
several larger-caliber weapons firing green tracers opened up
on them. One of the Black Hawk pilots called, “Taking fire! Nine
o’clock! Taking fire!” Simultaneously, several rounds slammed
into Bengal 15. That was immediately followed by a plaintive

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Photo courtesy of Bill Bryan

MAJ Rhonda Cornum, flight surgeon for the 2d/229, was captured when Bengal
15 was shot down. She is shown in an earlier photo with an unidentified Kuwaiti
officer.

call from the stricken helicopter, “Don’t put the rotor in the
ground. Don’t put the rotor in the ground, Phil!” The fatally
wounded aircraft pitched forward and crashed into an earthen
berm. Landing nose first, the aircraft dug into the soft sand
and flipped over. Five on board were killed in the explosion.
Within moments Iraqi soldiers were upon the surviving three,
who were now prisoners.84
Killed: CW4 Philip Garvey
CW3 Robert Godfrey
SFC William Butts
SGT Roger Brelinski
SSG Patbouvier Ortiz
Captured: MAJ Rhonda Cornum
SSG Daniel Stamaris
SP4 Troy Dunlap
The enemy guns also found the Apaches. One of them was
hit, with damage to the left engine nacelle and fuselage. Cap-
tain Thome watched the Black Hawk roll up in flames.85

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Reviewing the situation quickly, Thome determined that the

chance of survival was low and the risk to the Apaches and
crews was too great, so he ordered the two aircraft out of the
area.86 The rescue had failed.
As word of the failure was passed along, SOCCENT called the
3d/160th and told them to again prepare for a night effort.
CW2 Steve Rogers and his crew went back to work. Soon they
got another call. Rogers said,
Then they called us again and told us that it was a no go; that the area
was just too hot. No way that they would approve a launch. So we shut
down. Then we heard what had happened to them. Everything they had
run into, we had plotted. That was the sad part. This crew had flown
into the unknown. They gave them a mission and they had launched
and flew right into bad guys and I just know that their threat map was
just not as updated as ours. We had the best threat intelligence in the
theater.87

Working their way through the growing thunderstorms,

USMC pilots Capt Otis Day and Capt Paul Demers landed at
the nearest airfield for gas, only to then learn that their efforts
had been for naught, that the survivor had been captured and
an Army helicopter had been shot down.88 Likewise, Capt Mark
Hebein and his flight recovered at KKMC and discovered the
same thing. Captain Hebein remembered the moment: “I got
back and debriefed and that’s when I found out that a helicop-
ter went in just a few minutes after that and had got shot down.
I was [upset] because I had told them specifically. I was right
there, and the area was way too hot to send a helicopter in,
especially unescorted. . . . I am so [upset] that they sent a heli-
copter in there after I told them not to.”89
Most shocked of all was the commander of the 2d/229th,
LTC Bill Bryan. He had been a young lieutenant on his first as-
signment with F Troop of the 8th Cavalry in South Vietnam in
1972 when almost exactly the same thing had happened to a
UH-1 crew. He remembered the loss of Bengal 15 clearly:
As far as a Black Hawk going down, my plan was to go get the back-up
Black Hawk and go after the first. . . . My experience from [Vietnam] had
molded my feelings that you need to think long and hard about sending
4, 5, 6, 7 or more people to rescue someone who is possibly mortally
injured, captured or dead. That may sound cold-blooded but at some
point, someone has to say “no more.” I was prepared to make that deci-
sion if I had to. That is some of the unwritten stuff that commanders get
paid to do—but not necessarily trained.

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Had I been there when this mission came up, the first thing I would
have done would be to insist on knowing something about the ground
situation. That information was non-existent because of the “rout.” But
what WAS known was that the Iraqis had shot down an F-16, the pilot
had ejected and was talking on his radio going down . . . and the Iraqis
were shooting at him in his chute. Knowing these facts (or lack of them)
would have led me to conclude that the pilot had either survived and
was now a POW or he was dead—murdered by Iraqi cowards who shot
him before he hit the ground or shortly thereafter.
For me the next decision would have been easy. I would not put another
3–4 aircraft and 10–15 of America’s sons and daughters at risk! Some
would scoff at that but I remain firmly convinced that that rationale was
valid then and is valid today.
CSAR is like any other military mission. It takes planning, coordination,
and resources. Because we are dealing with life and death here and
extreme urgency, many overlook the planning, coordination and re-
source requirement.90
In the JRCC, Maj John Steube shared the same thought
when he remembered that, “People just wanted to get this guy.
They stopped thinking about what the consequences were for
the people who had to go in there. It cost a bunch of people
their lives.”91
The day was not over. With all units now in heavy action,
more losses were almost inevitable.

I088 – Avenger 11/AH-64, US Army

The aircraft went down because of fuel starvation. The Army

RCC dispatched a task force to recover the crew and aircraft,
but the crew had been killed.92

I089 – Cyclops 47 and 48/2 OV-1s, US Army

The two aircraft could not safely land at Hafra Al Batin when
the runway lights went out.93 One aircraft crashed on the run-
way. The other crew did not have enough fuel to divert to another
airfield and ejected a few miles from the base. The Army RCC
dispatched helicopters. Two crew members were wounded.94
Throughout the night, the forces of VII and XVIII Corps con-
tinued to attack into the Iraqi units. The battles were fierce and
one-sided. Iraqi units were destroyed piecemeal with minimal
coalition casualties.

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In Washington President Bush convened a meeting of his top

security advisors to determine when to end the war. Ever so-
licitous of the opinions of his military leaders, he asked Gen-
eral Powell for his opinion. The general replied that General
Schwarzkopf had indicated to him that he needed just a few
more hours to achieve his assigned goals. After asking all the
others present for their views and reviewing the political situa-
tion, he realized that the decision was his to make. With that
the president determined that the cease-fire would take effect
at 0500Z/0800L on the next day, 28 February.
That evening the president addressed the nation. Proudly, he
announced: “Kuwait is liberated. Iraq’s army is defeated. Our
military objectives are met. . . . At midnight tonight, Eastern
Standard Time, exactly 100 hours since ground operations
commenced and six weeks since the start of DESERT STORM,
all United States and coalition forces will suspend offensive
combat operations. It is up to Iraq whether this suspension on
the part of the coalition becomes a permanent cease-fire.”95
But there were still a few hours to go. As the fighting contin-
ued, in the TACC, General Glosson got permission to hit a few
more targets in the Baghdad area. Concerned that Saddam and
his family might try to flee, he had aircraft at several airfields
around the capital destroyed. He added some previously un-
identified nuclear sites to the target list.
Getting the missions, the F-117 pilots were concerned. They
had heard the president’s speech. With the end near, nobody
wanted to be the last casualty. Additionally, bad weather had
moved into the Baghdad area. This would force them to make
their bomb runs at much lower altitudes. So far, no F-117s had
been lost.
That last night though, their luck almost changed. One F-117
had its bomb bay door stick open after bomb release. The inte-
rior metal was not shielded with the special ablative paint and
presented a radar return. An SA-3 SAM suddenly locked on to
the aircraft and launched a missile. Fortunately, the pilot was
able to get the door closed before the missile could hit the air-
craft. Another F-117 flying at lower altitude was almost hit by
AAA.96
In the last hours of combat, four B-52s and an F-16 were
damaged by Iraqi air defenses, but there were no more losses.

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Avenger and Cyclops were the last recorded incidents prior to

the cease-fire at 0800L on 28 February.97
As hostilities ended, rescue forces were still standing alert at
several locations. The JRCC showed the following recovery as-
sets available:
RSAF – 20
US Navy – 10 (SOCCENT)
US Army – 12 (SOCCENT)
USAF – 25 (SOCCENT)
FAF – 2
RAF – 198
The next day, a task force from the 2d/7th Infantry Battalion
of the 24th Infantry Division moved forward and secured the
Bengal 15 crash site. They found the remains of the five sol-
diers killed and indications that the rest of the troops had been
taken prisoner. Later that day, LTC Bill Bryan of the 2d/229th
Attack Battalion was able to fly into the site and help recover
the bodies of his men.99
Very quickly, the JRCC started working with CENTCOM to
identify crash sites so that other teams could move in and se-
cure them too—at least in those areas where coalition ground
forces were in control. Three days later, General Schwarzkopf
met with Iraqi military commanders at the Safwan Airfield to
review the terms and conditions of the cease-fire. Item one was
the return of all coalition POWs and bodies. There would be no
repeat of the lingering national wounds of the MIAs from South-
east Asia. By 6 March, all coalition POWs were returned.
Then the forces started going home. Desert Storm was over.

Notes
1. Michael R. Gordon and Gen Bernard E. Trainor, The Generals’ War: The
Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf (New York: Little, Brown and Co., 1994),
245.
2. Ibid., 340.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid., 348.
5. Ibid., 349.

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 DESERT SABRE, WEEK SIX

6. History, 3d Marine Air Wing (3 MAW), Marine Attack Squadron, VMA-

542, Washington, DC: Marine Corps Historical Center, 1 January–28 Febru-
ary 1991.
7. Dale B. Cooper, “Young Guns, Harrier Pilots in the Persian Gulf,” Sol-
dier of Fortune, May 1991, 52.
8. History, 3 MAW, 145.
9. CDR Patrick Sharrett et al., “GPS Performance: An Initial Assessment,”
Navigation Journal 39, no. 1 (Spring 1992): 411.
10. Michael R. Rip and James M. Hasik, The Precision Revolution: GPS and
the Future of Aerial Warfare (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2002),
chapter 5.
11. Williamson Murray with Wayne Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf
(Baltimore, MD: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America,
1996), 276.
12. “Desert Storm, Final Report to Congress: Conduct of the Persian Gulf
War 1991,” Military History Magazine, April 1992, 147.
13. Barry D. Smith, “Tim Bennett’s War,” Air Force Magazine, January
1993.
14. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 286.
15. History, 3 MAW, 151.
16. Ibid., 152.
17. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 362.
18. Ibid., 379.
19. Lt Col Charles H. Cureton, U.S. Marines in the Persian Gulf, 1990–
1991: With the 1st Marine Division in Desert Shield and Desert Storm (Wash-
ington, DC: History and Museums Division HQ USMC, 1993), 93–95.
20. Ibid.
21. History, 3 MAW, 159.
22. This was not logged on the USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
23. Col John Bioty Jr., interview by the author, 6 January 2000.
24. Dale B. Cooper, “Young Guns,” 52.
25. History, VMA-542; History, 3 MAW, 161; and Capt John Walsh, inter-
view by the author, 6 October 2000.
26. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log, DS box, Joint Personnel Re-
covery Agency, Fort Belvoir, VA, n.d. (hereafter USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/
Mission Log).
27. Robert Dorr, “POWs in Iraq Survived Thanks to Training, Courage,
Faith,” Naval Aviation News, May–June 1991, 6.
28. History, 3 MAW, Marine Observation Squadron 1 (VMO-1) (Washing-
ton, DC: Marine Corps Historical Center, 1 January–28 February 1991).
29. Col Charles J. Quilter II, US Marines in the Persian Gulf, 1990–1991:
The Marine Expeditionary Force in Desert Shield and Desert Storm (hereafter
History, MEF) (Washington, DC: HQ USMC, History and Museums Division,
1993), 88; and History, 3 MAW, 166.
30. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 369.
31. Ibid., 370.
32. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 288.

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 DESERT SABRE, WEEK SIX

33. History, MEF, 102.

34. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 386.
35. Ibid., 385.
36. This was not logged on the USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
37. MAJ Kevin Smith, United States Army Aviation during Operations Des-
ert Shield and Desert Storm (Fort Rucker, AL: US Army Aviation Center,
1993), 93.
38. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
39. Message, JRCC A/R 251430Z, FEB 1991.
40. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 387.
41. Edward Marolda and Robert Schneller Jr., Shield and Sword (Wash-
ington, DC: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, 1998), 297.
42. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 393.
43. Ibid., 396.
44. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 292–94.
45. Capt Scott Fitzsimmons, interview by the author, 28 February 2002.
46. Lt Col Craig Mays, interview by the author, 22 March 2001.
47. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
48. History, 3 MAW, 166.
49. ARCENT G-3 Aviation After Action Report (Fort Rucker, AL: 5 April
1991).
50. Ibid.
51. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
52. Fitzsimmons, interview.
53. Ibid.
54. William F. Andrews, Oral History Interview (Colorado Springs, CO: US
Air Force Academy, (USAFA), 25 September 1991).
55. Fitzsimmons, interview.
56. Ibid.
57. Capt Bill Andrews, USAFA oral history. Note: Capt Andrews was
awarded the Air Force Cross for his actions on that day.
58. Fitzsimmons, interview.
59. Capt Gerry Stophel, interview by the author, 21 February 2002.
60. Capt John Steube, interview by the author, 9 January 2002.
61. Maj Lornie Palmgren, interview by the author, 2 May 2001.
62. Col George Gray, interview by the author, 3 May 2001.
63. Gray, interview; and e-mails by the author and Jim Blackwood on 25
February and 14 March 2002.
64. Lt Col Joe Hampton, interview by the author, 12 March 2000; and
Steube, interview.
65. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 412; and Maj Mason Carpenter,
Joint Operations in the Gulf War (Maxwell AFB, AL: School of Advanced Air-
power Studies, Air University, February 1995), 61.
66. Hampton, interview; and Durham, interview.
67. CW2 Steve Rogers, interview by the author, 2 May 2001.
68. James W. Bradin, From Hot Air to Hellfire: The History of Army Attack
Aviation (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1994), 206.

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 DESERT SABRE, WEEK SIX

69. Rogers, interview.

70. Bradin, From Hot Air to Hellfire, 208.
71. Ibid.
72. MAJ Mike Rusho, interview by the author, 10 April 2001.
73. Edward M. Flanagan Jr., Lightning: The 101st in the Gulf War (Wash-
ington, DC: Brassey’s Press, 1993), 211.
74. Lt Col Richard Comer, interview by the author, 19 July 2000.
75. lLT Al Flood, interview by the author, 15 January 2001; and e-mail
from Al Flood to the author, 22 April 2002.
76. Ibid.
77. Ibid.
78. E-mail from LTC Bill Bryan to the author, 12 March 2002.
79. CPT Mike Thome, interview by the author, 14 July 2000.
80. MAJ Rhonda Cornum, interview by the author, 20 February 2001.
81. MAJ Rhonda Cornum with Peter Copeland, She Went to War: The
Rhonda Cornum Story (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1992), 7.
82. Mark Hebein, interview by the author, 25 July 2001.
83. Jay A. Stout, Hornets over Kuwait (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute
Press, 1997), 219–23; and History, 3 MAW, 166.
84. Bradin, From Hot Air to Hellfire, 211.
85. Thome, interview.
86. Ibid.
87. Rogers, interview.
88. Stout, Hornets over Kuwait, 219–23; and History, 3 MAW, 166.
89. Hebein, interview.
90. Bryan, e-mail.
91. Steube, interview.
92. Message, JRCC A/R 281430Z.
93. USCENTAF/JRCC Incident/Mission Log.
94. Message, JRCC A/R 281430Z.
95. Marolda and Schneller, Shield and Sword, 305.
96. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 410.
97. Perry D. Jamieson, Lucrative Targets: The U.S. Air Force in the Kuwaiti
Theater of Operations (Washington, DC: AF History and Museums Program,
US G.P.O., 2001), 160.
98. USCENTCOM/JRCC (Colorado Springs, CO: USAFA, Report for 28
February 1991).
99. Col Chuck Ware, USA, retired, phone conversation with the author, 21
January 2002.

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 Chapter 8

Postscript

The magic compass

—Nickname given to GPS receivers
by Arab ground commanders

Desert Storm was a short but violent conflict. In just 43 days,

coalition forces destroyed Iraq’s air force, a major portion of its
army, and a large portion of the national infrastructure. Most
importantly, they forced Saddam to pull his forces out of Kuwait.
Our losses were relatively few, with 43 aircraft lost in combat.
Numerous potential loss incidents occurred throughout the
conflict. JRCC personnel worked tirelessly to resolve every re-
port and account for all aircraft and crews. For example, on 17
January, a signals intelligence agency reported an F-16 down.
The JRCC controllers on duty called every F-16 unit in-theater
to verify that all of their aircraft had safely returned from the
day’s missions. This was a routine and thankless task, but vi-
tally necessary to account for all aircraft and personnel.
Given the total number of sorties flown, there were relatively
few CSARs. What can be learned from this conflict? The record
suggests the following:
1. The theater of operations was a challenging one for
CSAR.
First of all, the area was mostly barren, affording little cover
for evaders to exploit or for low-flying aircraft to terrain-mask.
The terrain in the theater (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait) was
a critical factor in this conflict. From the perspective of a shot-
down airman, most of the terrain was flat or gently rolling, with
almost no vegetation and nearly as hard as stone. This was in
marked contrast to our experiences in Southeast Asia where so
much of the area was covered in thick, triple-canopy jungle that
afforded an evader excellent opportunity to hide if necessary.
This directly affected the survivors. As Col Ben Orrell pointed
out, “Those guys over there—when they get shot down, they’re

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standing out in the middle of a thousand miles of flat ground.

There’s no hiding.”1
One British SAS trooper inserted into Iraq noted that, “The
ground beneath us was dead flat and consisted of hard-baked
clay, . . . and under that lay solid rock. There was no loose ma-
terial with which to fill our sand bags.”2
Both crew members of Slate 46, Lieutenants Jones and Slade,
mentioned that they had a difficult time digging even small
trenches in which they could recline. Several other survivors
said that when they landed on the ground, there was just no-
where to hide.
There were a few exceptions. In northeast Iraq, there were
some spectacular mountains, but no significant combat took
place there. There were also some salt marshes along the Ku-
waiti coast and one significant ridgeline just west of Kuwait
City. And in the west, there were some valleys and wadis.
But for these exceptions, the terrain was generally level,
sandy, and hard. This was great for interdiction, close air sup-
port, and the maneuver of mechanized forces, but not the best
for downed airmen trying to hide.3
It was also a challenge to the helicopter rescue crews. Colo-
nel Orrell explained, “In Vietnam, you had trees to protect you,
hills and valleys. The stuff up there [Iraq] was just flat. They
could see you coming from 100 miles away.”4
The helicopter pilots talked of feeling naked as they flew over
the vast expanses of the desert. Most felt compelled to fly as low
as 10 feet to get any advantage at all from any irregularities in
the terrain. That would afford them some protection from en-
emy threats, but also made it hard for them to electronically
contact survivors.
The Iraqis took advantage of the openness. Knowing that we
would try to rescue our aircrews, they sent fast-moving roving
patrols over vast stretches to capture our men or ambush our
helicopters.5
Secondly, the weather was harsh, and the local populace was
generally supportive of Saddam. At this time of the year it was
also extremely cold. Several British commandos were killed
from exposure due to the cold temperatures, constant winds,
and lack of cover. Additionally, the local people could not be
trusted. Said one British officer, “You meet a Bedouin and you

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have got a fifty percent chance he is going to turn you in.”6 Maj
Jeff Tice (Stroke 65) discovered this firsthand.
Additionally, Saddam published to his people a standing re-
ward of $35,000 for the capture and presentation of any coali-
tion airmen or soldiers to the Iraqi police or military. This was
a fortune to most indigenous Iraqi people and strong incentive
to most to comply.7
Thirdly, Iraqi air defenses were extensive and lethal. Iraq had
one of the most sophisticated and intense air defense systems
in the world. Composed of radars and communication equip-
ment from several countries, it had almost 4,000 radar-directed
SAMs, 7,500 heat-seeking SAMs, 972 fixed AAA sites, and over
8,500 AAA guns. Additionally, every tank and armored person-
nel carrier had at least one machine gun, and every troop had
a rifle.8 In toto, the skies of Iraq were a dangerous environment
for coalition airmen.
2. This conflict reinforced the fundamental truth that the
best CSAR device is to not get your aircraft shot down in
the first place.
Given the realities of the theater noted above, this was a
challenge, and some of the initial projections were that the co-
alition aerial forces would suffer horrendous losses. It did not
happen. Several things helped to enable this.
Stealth Technology. The investments made in the 1980s in
stealth technology paid off. No F-117s were shot down. They
flew most of the missions into the most heavily defended areas.
Brig Gen Buster Glosson noted, “As a result of our stealth tech-
nology, the Iraqis fired their AAA weapons at aircraft noise, not
a visual or radar target.”9
On 17 January F-117s attacked targets in Baghdad and suf-
fered zero losses. More importantly, only one pilot per attack-
ing aircraft was put at risk. Contrast this with a large package
that attacked the Al Taqaddum Airfield that same day. Thirty-
two F-16s dropped bombs supported by four EF-111s, eight
F-4Gs, and 16 F-15s for MiG CAP. Seventy-two aircrewmen
risked their lives in that one raid.10
Precision Weapons. The revolution in precision weapons
was also a large factor. The ability to guide a single weapon to
destroy a target instead of having to send numerous aircraft to

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 POSTSCRIPT

try to hit it meant, quite simply, that fewer aircraft and air-
crews were put at risk. The historical trends in weaponry are
clear. In World War II, B-17s had a CEP (circular error proba-
ble—a statistical term meaning the radius from the target in
which 50 percent of the bombs would fall) of 3,300 feet. To en-
sure the destruction of a specific target, 9,070 bombs had to be
dropped. That required several hundred aircraft, each with a
crew of 10 men. By the time of Desert Storm, an attack aircraft
using laser-guided bombs had a CEP of 10 feet and could claim
almost a 100 percent certainty of destroying the target while
requiring just a few men.11
Better yet were the cruise missiles. Essentially unmanned air-
craft, they could attack and destroy targets without putting any
coalition aircrews at risk. Noted one campaign planner, “We used
those weapons because . . . it seemed the logical thing to do.
Plain and simple . . . it saved lives. If we had lost a half-dozen
A-6s attacking those targets, it would have been unforgivable.”12
Global Positioning System. The impact of the GPS on Des-
ert Storm is just now being recognized. While not yet fully op-
erational in 1991, the 16 satellites in orbit at the beginning of
hostilities gave the coalition forces precision navigation capa-
bility for up to 22 hours per day. Unheralded are the efforts of
USSPACECOM in general and the 2d Satellite Control Squad-
ron in particular to keep the system functioning throughout
the conflict, especially when three satellites suffered mechani-
cal problems at various times and were in danger of losing their
ability to transmit accurate signals.
Once the system was in place and a common reference da-
tum had been applied, it gave our forces the ability to move
throughout the theater quickly and accurately. It also provided
our reconnaissance and intelligence forces—specifically the
RC-135, AWACS, and E-8 Joint STARS aircraft—the ability to
precisely determine the location of almost anything observable
to 10-meter accuracy.13
The 72 Block 40 F-16C/Ds sent to the Gulf were noted for
their bombing accuracy. GPS, combined with other highly spe-
cialized sensor pods on the aircraft, enabled them to accurately
bomb day and night in all kinds of weather. All in all, GPS was
one of the great enablers of our victory in Desert Storm and is
labeled by many as “the unsung hero of the Gulf War.”14

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General Horner recognized this when he said, “During DES-

ERT STORM, we used the Global Positioning System to solve the
soldiers’ most nagging battlefield problem—where am I? . . .
While Iraqi forces were confined to charted roads and trails, Co-
alition forces had the run of the field. If you moved, or were in
anything that moved in-theater, you wanted GPS with you.”15
Electronic Warfare. The investments made in the area of
electronic warfare—like the creation of the F-4G Wild Weasel
fleet; the creation of the EF-111 fleet; electronic jamming pods
like the ALQ-119, -131, -184, and -135; and the new antiradia-
tion missiles—also paid off. It gave the coalition forces the abil-
ity to suppress the highly sophisticated Iraqi defenses to the
point where aircraft could operate at medium levels with rela-
tive impunity.
Most aircraft were also equipped with the latest versions of
radar-warning receivers (RWR). These devices could pick up
enemy radar signals, thus warning the crews that they were
being tracked by enemy radars. Such critical warning gave
them a tremendous advantage in reacting to the threat.
Discussing the low losses, Horner said, “I would have to say
it’s one of the highlights of the war, especially if you look at the
number of sorties we flew and the intensity of the air defenses.
Our losses to surface-to-air missiles were something like ten
planes.” Horner went on to explain the value of area-jamming
aircraft, “like the Air Force EF-111 and the Navy EA-6B, which
pour electrons into the enemy’s target-acquisition radars so he
just doesn’t know where you’re coming from.”16
But the airmen still had to deal with the guns. As one vet-
eran of Desert Storm wrote, “USAF electronic superiority al-
lowed air supremacy to be quickly achieved above 10,000 feet,
but the numerous Iraqi AAA pieces and shoulder-fired surface
to air missiles denied low-risk operations at lower altitudes.”17
There is just no way to calculate how many aircraft were not
shot down because they could stay high.
Night Exploitation. Tremendous advances in night-vision
technology and techniques allowed coalition forces to operate
almost unrestricted at night. As one British pilot noted, “The
first air strikes were to be carried out at night because of the
superior night vision capabilities of the coalition aircraft. . . . It
hid air activity on an enormous scale.”18

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Enemy gunners had a low probability of hitting what they

could not see. This was another way of avoiding the AAA.
Equipped with the latest generation of night-vision goggles, the
Pave Low crews in particular were able to take advantage of
this night capability.
Tactical Innovation. The airmen leading the coalition air
effort showed great tactical flexibility. General Horner told his
staff and the men in the TACC, “If you have a good idea about
tactics or target selection or things of that nature, they are al-
ways welcome. . . . [There are] no bad ideas here. . . . Everybody
has experience in one form or another in tactical aviation and
we need to talk to one another about it.”19 For example, “Poobah’s
Party” was a brilliant operation that had a direct and decisive
effect on the air campaign.
At several points the commanders were quick to adjust op-
erations to increase effectiveness and avoid casualties. The re-
strictions on large-package attacks against Baghdad-area tar-
gets and the altitude restrictions were prime examples.
During the first three days of combat operations, one of the
primary targets was the Iraqi air defense system. As that was
being attacked, coalition losses were significant, with 17 fixed-
wing aircraft downed, but the campaign was a success. One
F-4G Wild Weasel pilot noted, “Our mission was accomplished
in the first 48 hours of the war, especially that first night at
Baghdad. We went in and destroyed so many of their surface to
air missile/radar sites that they had a healthy respect for
HARMs and Weasels. They were real hesitant to turn on their
radars. After that, we basically just had to show up. They [Iraqi
radar operators] would stay off the air when they knew we were
present. They knew our call signs.”20
In the last week, when the ground campaign was being con-
ducted and all aircrews were instructed by the JFACC to “do
what was necessary” to provide close air support, eight aircraft
were lost.21
The British were also adept at changing their tactics. After
the horrific losses suffered by their Tornado pilots on the dan-
gerous but so necessary airfield attacks, they re-roled their air-
craft and crews to operate in the medium-altitude regime. They
lost only one more aircraft after that.

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The AFSOC helicopter crews were also adaptive. They pre-

ferred, and intended, to do their rescue work at night. But when
shoot downs occurred during the day, they quickly adapted to
daylight work as part of a rescue task force, as seen with the
Slate 46 recovery. To reduce response time, they would, in cer-
tain instances, launch to the border or hold in a safe area while
the search process proceeded.
Training. In the 1970s, the USAF Tactical Air Command
started a continuing series of “Flag” exercises. Red Flag was the
best known. Conducted on the massive weapons ranges north
of Las Vegas, Nevada, these exercises were initially designed to
give each young fighter pilot his first 10 combat sorties in a
forgiving environment where the price of failure was not death
but learning.
One F-111 pilot said, “Training saved our lives. We trained for
low and medium altitude war. . . . We fought like we trained.”22
A Wild Weasel pilot noted, “I had trained eight years for this.
. . . When the SA-2 launched, I didn’t feel scared at all. I knew
exactly what to do. The reason that we are all doing so well in
this war is the fact that we are all so well trained.”23
Red Flag helped the aircrews develop the critical situational
awareness necessary to quickly and accurately understand
what was going on around them in any combat situation. That
dramatically reduced losses and saved lives.24
But the exercises did more that just train the young pilots.
They trained commanders, too. They provided them with the
opportunity to experiment with new tactics and techniques.
They allowed them to mix combinations of aircraft to see what
worked and what didn’t. Red Flag was a giant laboratory for
tactical tinkering, testing, and learning.
As Red Flag expanded, aircraft and crews from the Navy, Ma-
rines, and even the Army joined in, and the wealth of knowl-
edge continued to expand. Eventually, even allies were in-
cluded, and the experiments just grew.
There were others. Green Flag was just like Red Flag except
the emphasis was on electronic warfare, specifically using Wild
Weasels, EF-111s, and other electronic assets. Scenarios were
designed so that they could practice and perfect their sophisti-
cated electronic dances. It paid off over Iraq.

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There was Maple Flag where various US, Canadian, and other
air forces came together at Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada, and took
advantage of the vast expanses to stage huge war games. In Blue
Flag at Hurlburt Field, Florida, commanders and their command
and control teams staged huge war games focused on ironing
out the difficulties of trying to orchestrate such massive cam-
paigns. The Internal Look exercise, where the Gulf War was pre-
fought, was conducted at Blue Flag in the summer of 1990.
The author of the air campaign plan used in Desert Storm, Col
John Warden, had predicted that overall losses would be about
40 aircraft. He stated that the Air Force (actually all joint and
combined aerial forces) would use mass, shock, and the destruc-
tion of enemy command centers to gain air superiority and keep
casualties low. His prediction was the most accurate.25
Overall, the low loss rate reinforced a trend reaching back to
World War II, where the loss rate (expressed as number of air-
craft lost per sortie) was 1.0 percent.26 It dropped to .17 percent
in the Korean conflict.27 In the war in Southeast Asia, the over-
all loss rate was .081 percent.28 The Gulf War rate fell to .055
percent.29 All of the investments in stealth technology, preci-
sion weapons, and training had paid off.
3. Going into Desert Storm, Air Force CSAR capability
had been dramatically reduced from the peak reached dur-
ing the war in Southeast Asia.
Traditionally, the Air Force had been the primary supplier of
air rescue capability, but between the Vietnam War and Desert
Storm, this capability had been allowed to wane. This resulted
from a series of force reductions, budget decisions, and reorga-
nizations that culminated in the creation of the Special Opera-
tions Command (SOCOM), which absorbed some Air Force res-
cue elements. The Air Force leadership had taken steps to rectify
the situation by initiating a rebuilding program in the newly
established Air Rescue Service (ARS) just prior to Desert Shield/
Storm. The ARS mission statement clearly indicated that it had
CSAR responsibility worldwide, but it had only older assets of
limited capability to perform the recovery part of the mission.
The all-weather, night-capable helicopter that its predecessor
had identified as critical to the mission after the war in South-
east Asia had been taken away and given to the AFSOC. New

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helicopters were being procured but were only available in lim-

ited numbers.
When the Klaxon rang for Desert Shield/Storm, the reconsti-
tuted ARS was able to provide some personnel for command and
control (in the JRCC), but it had no force structure that could
safely and reliably perform the combat recovery mission in high-
threat areas. A provisional unit of HH-60s could have possibly
been formed, but the ARS commander chose not to do so.
For this and other reasons, the mission passed to SOCCENT.
Fortunately, there was a reservoir of individuals among the he-
licopter and MC-130 crews in the AFSOC community that had
rescue experience. They were able to take the tasking and de-
velop the capability for SOCCENT.
Navy combat recovery capability had been moved almost
completely into its reserve component, but the two reserve
units were well trained and filled by earnest men who would
answer the call. When the Navy was granted authority by the
president to recall reservists, activating and employing them
made a great deal of sense and added to SOCCENT’s combat
rescue capability. They did not get any rescues, but did par-
ticipate on numerous missions.
4. At the same time, the expectations among the flying crews
for CSAR were very high.
This was based on the recorded history from Southeast Asia
and war stories passed down by the veterans of that conflict to
the young troops in the Gulf. These expectations were rein-
forced by specific comments of some senior Air Force officers.
The Vietnam generation of air warriors trained the Desert
Storm crews. Around debriefing tables and bars from Korea to
Germany, the “vets” inculcated the idea in the younger men
that if they were shot down, the “Jolly Green” would be there.
It was almost an article of faith.
But in the ’80s, the specter of war across the plains of Europe
caused a de-emphasis of CSAR. The crews realized that a war
there would have been a war for survival, and the loss of whole
squadrons could be expected. In Europe there were no rescue
squadrons except for a unit in Iceland that was optimized for
overwater rescue. The crews were taught that if downed, they

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were to evade to specific points. At specified times, SOF helicop-

ters would fly by and pick up whoever was there.
Desert Storm was not a war for national survival. The crews
saw that a combat rescue force was in place, and six CSAR ex-
ercises were conducted. So the old Vietnam stories were rein-
vigorated.
As combat loomed, Brig Gen Buster Glosson personally went
out to speak to the aircrews. From his experiences in the last
days in Southeast Asia, he felt an obligation to look them all in
the eye and tell them why they were fighting. He told them that
the nation was behind them. He told them that what they were
doing was important and talked them through the air cam-
paign plan. But then he cautioned them to be careful. This
could last a while and we needed to husband our resources. He
said, “There is not a . . . thing in Iraq worth you dying for.”30 He
also told them that he would “stack helicopters on top of each
other,” to rescue them if they were shot down.31
This was an exact replay of the feelings among the aircrews
in the last days of the Vietnam War. As one squadron com-
mander there told his young pilots, “Guys, there is nothing
over here worth an American life.”32
Then the young captains from AFSOC went around and told
them that if they got bagged, the rescue forces were coming—
although with restrictions, and preferably at night. The history
suggests that they also explained the necessary procedures.
One unit seemed to have gotten a different message. When
Glosson visited the 4th Wing at Al Kharj, one young pilot remem-
bered his saying that, “If you get shot down, you [won’t] have to
spend the night. If it’s a night sortie, we’ll be in the next day to get
you, but you are not going to spend 24 hours on the ground.”33
5. The non-rescue of an F-15E crew early in the conflict
caused a morale problem among the F-15E units.
As the narrative of the Eberly and Griffith incident makes
clear, the men of the 4th Wing were dramatically affected by the
loss of Corvette 03 early in the war. This was a bad time for
them. Just two nights prior, they had lost a crew (T-Bird 56)
near Basra. Additionally, they were being whipsawed from tar-
get to target, often on the shortest of notice, as CENTAF tried to
get a handle on the Scud missile dilemma. Such chaos was

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disconcerting to say the least. What is not clear is what specific

CSAR briefings they were given before the war concerning loca-
tion and authentication procedures or what classified intelli-
gence they had available to them explaining the difficulty of
getting rescue forces into that area of Corvette 03.
Colonel Gray at SOCCENT had what intelligence data was
available and had to make the difficult decision on whether or
not to send a helicopter in for them. The British commanders
had to wrestle with the same issue when their team, Bravo 20,
was compromised and split up.
But the men of the 4th Wing were not privy to any of that.
Consequently, the rumors spread that the AFSOC guys would
not go. Those feelings have made their way into the histories of
the war and occasionally resurface in discussions about CSAR.
6. CENTAF did not have a quick, accurate, and reliable
way to locate downed airmen or discretely communicate
with them. There were several parts to this:
Obsolete Survival Radios. The PRC-90 survival radio most
commonly issued to the aircrews—a holdover from the war in
Southeast Asia—was far too limited in its capabilities and too
easily exploited by the enemy. It was rugged and durable, but
it was nothing more than a two-channel transmitter that could
also transmit an emergency beacon signal. That signal was
easily tracked by anyone who had direction-finding gear and
knew the two internationally identified frequencies. It had no
discrete capabilities either for communication or position iden-
tification. One planner at CENTCOM, LTC Pete Harvell, thought
that the radio itself was a threat to the aircrews. He said, “The
pilot becomes his own worst nightmare in that by trying to sig-
nal his position, he’s jeopardizing himself and whatever rescue
force could come to get him.”34
Apparently, the RAF crews were carrying survival radios
which were tuned to different frequencies than those used/
monitored by US crews and rescue forces. Several RAF crew-
members mentioned that they made emergency calls or initi-
ated their beacons with no response.
A new radio was available, the PRC-112, which had some
discrete communication and location capabilities. The SOF
community and the Navy had bought some and had them in

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the Gulf region in limited numbers for their troops. The Air
Force had chosen not to purchase them before the war.
Additionally, to fully utilize the PRC-112, search aircraft had
to be equipped with the DALS receivers to home in on the dis-
crete signal it emitted. The Navy and AFSOC had installed
DALS on their helicopters, but no service had installed it on
any aircraft that could operate in a high-threat area. Two Navy
fliers, LT Rob Wetzel (Quicksand 12 Alpha) and LT Larry Slade
(Slate 46 Bravo), had PRC-112s when they went down. Wetzel
left his behind when he tried to evade. Lieutenant Slade appar-
ently had radio problems. That was particularly unfortunate
because an MH-53 was in the area looking for him and had his
discrete codes.
After the debacle with Corvette 03, Brig Gen Dale Stovall, the
vice commander of AFSOC, personally called his counterpart at
TAC and told him:
I said, “Hey, we need to put one of these direction interrogators on an
F-15E so we can get a fast mover out there and we can pick up where
the guys are who get shot down. . . . The [HC-130] tankers can’t be flying
around at 10,000 to 15,000 feet out there, searching with their equip-
ment for some guy on the ground and the helicopters can’t pick up the
signals when they are at 50 feet AGL.” . . . I was told, personally told, “We
don’t have room to put it on the F-15E model. . . . You have to have fast
movers doing the searching. . . . Once you find him, get him located,
then you can launch the [rescue] force. . . . It doesn’t do any good to have
them [DALS] on the helicopter until you get into the terminal area.”35

Perhaps a better plan would have been to use the Block 40

F-16C/Ds that had GPS. They were much more survivable in a
high-threat area than any of the AFSOC aircraft. Modifying
them with DALS receivers could have created a capability to
accurately locate survivors with PRC-112s. This would also
have been more effective for survivors with PRC-90s, since
these aircraft could have marked the survivors’ location with
GPS. As noted, they were much more accurate than any INS
used by most fighter aircraft. But the Block 40 F-16s were in
high demand for attack missions. There is no indication that
their use for CSAR search duties was ever considered.
AWACS, Rivet Joint, and Satellites. SARSAT satellites were
available for survivor location, but their best accuracy was about
20 kilometers or 12 miles.36 AWACS and Rivet Joint RC-135s
also monitored for downed airmen, but their plotted positions

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were inaccurate, as seen in the Corvette 03 and Slate 46 shoot

downs.37 Their collection systems used GPS to establish their
position. They were good at plotting enemy radio or radar trans-
mitters, but accurately plotting the location of low-wattage PRC-
90 and PRC-112 radios proved to be beyond their capabilities.
Limited Number of Survival Radios. Apparently, Air Force,
Navy, and Marine aircrews were issued only one radio each. Uzi
11, Capt Dale Storr, had another radio in his personal survival
kit, but it was tuned to the training frequencies. General Glos-
son did not make it a policy to have all crew members carry two
radios. He said, “I did not know that my people were flying with
one radio and it certainly was not my policy, I can assure you
that. I left that solely up to the wing commanders and I in-
tended to do that. . . . I just never thought that anybody would
be short-sighted enough to fly with one radio in his vest. I just
never thought that.”38
Given the critical importance that the radio plays in the CSAR
process, a repeat of the practice of issuing all aircrewmen two
radios, as in the later years of the war in Southeast Asia, might
have given some downed airmen at least a chance of being res-
cued in Desert Storm.
Failure to Exploit GPS for CSAR Purposes. Considering
the impact of GPS on our overall operations in Desert Storm,
the failure to extend that exploitation to CSAR was a missed
opportunity. The overall GPS structure was in place. A com-
mon WGS datum had been applied. The primary combat recov-
ery aircraft—the MH-53—had GPS navigational capability. But,
as pointed out, accurate GPS navigation needs a known start
point and end point. The recovery efforts for Corvette 03 and
Slate 46 showed that the PRC-90 and PRC–112 radios could
not be located that accurately with the assets in-theater and
that coordinates reported by INS were not necessarily useable
for GPS. The recovery of ODA 525 showed how beneficial it was
for anyone being rescued to have the ability to report their GPS
position. This was recognized by some; a few B-52 crews flying
in Desert Storm had SLGRs packed in their ejection survival
kits.39 There is no indication or record that any tactical crews
in Desert Storm were issued any model of GPS receiver.
Colonel Comer of the 20th SOS had perhaps the clearest vi-
sion of this. He recalls, “We didn’t have the technology on our

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people who might be survivors to know their location. We had

GPS. But GPS was brand new. We didn’t understand that it
changed the world: that it changed how you fly, that it changed
where you fly. We did not know that yet.”40
As one post–Desert Storm report said, “A glaring lesson
learned in this conflict, and projected to be fixed by GPS tech-
nology, was the lack of precise position determination for
downed pilots.”41
The AFSOC helicopter pilots agreed with this overall assess-
ment. As one later said, “This [issue] should constitute the
number one lesson learned.”42
7. Regardless, personnel from the service components and
SOCCENT executed numerous joint missions and several
SAR missions. Additionally, there were several intraser-
vice rescues of note.
The JRCC log (table 1) shows 20 missions actually attempted
from the beginning of hostilities until cessation on 28 February.
But, as previously mentioned, not all rescue efforts were noted
on the log.

Table 1. JRCC Log

Number Call Sign Recovery Element Outcome
JM001 Jupiter USMC None, safe landing
JM002 Hostage 75 USN/RSAF/RSN Search, nonrecovery
JM003 Stroke 65 SOC CSAR, nonrecovery
JM004 Dark 15 Saudi SAR, recovery
JM005 Stamford 11 Saudi SAR, recovery
JM006 Slate 46 SOC CSAR, one recovery
JM007 Corvette 03 SOC CSAR, nonrecovery
JM008 Wolf 01 USN CSAR, recovery
JM009 Cat 36 USMC Search, nonrecovery
JM010 (Jaguar) RAF SAR, non-event
JM011 Spirit 03 SOC/USN/Saudi Search, nonrecovery
JM012 Uzi 11 SOC Nonrecovery
JM013 Millcreek 701 USMC SAR, nonrecovery
JM014 Jump 57 SOC Search, nonrecovery
JM015 Hunter 26 SOC/Saudi Search, nonrecovery

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Table 1. (continued)
Number Call Sign Recovery Element Outcome

JM016 Enfield 37/38 SOC Search, nonrecovery

JM017 Benji 53 SOC CSAR recovery

JM018 Pride 16 AF/USMC Search, nonrecovery

Jump 42 USMC CSAR, ground team recovery
(AH-64) Army CSAR, ground team recovery

JM019 Magic 14 SOC Search, nonrecovery

JM020 Mutt 41 Army CSAR, nonrecovery

Bengal 15 Army CSAR, nonrecovery

Overall, coalition combat losses were 43 aircraft, recorded as

follows:
Fixed-wing aircraft43 Rotary-wing aircraft44
USAF 14 US Army:
USN 6 AH-64 1
USMC 7 OH-58D 1
RSAF 2 UH-1 1
RAF 7 UH-60 2
Italy 1 TOTAL 5
Kuwait 1
TOTAL 38

Table 2 analyzes those combat losses for which any amount

of significant data is available. It shows that, in fact, 87 coali-
tion aircrewmen were downed in combat. Of that total, 48 were
killed (55.1 percent), one remains classified as MIA (1.1 per-
cent), and 38 survived the shoot down (44.1 percent). Of the 38
who survived the shoot down, eight were rescued (9.3 percent
of total) and 30 were POWs (34.4 percent of total).

Table 2. Analysis of combat losses

Date Aircraft/Service Call Sign/Crew Size Result/Target/Rescueable

17 Jan F-18 /USN Sunliner 403/1 1 KIA (MIA*)/escort

17 Jan Tornado/RAF Norwich 02/2 2 POW/airfield attack/no

17 Jan A-4/Kuwait AF Bergan 23/1 1 Evade-POW/enemy forces/no

17 Jan Tornado/RAF Norwich 21/2 2 KIA/airfield attack

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 Table 2. (continued)
Date Aircraft/Service Call Sign/Crew Size Result/Target/Rescueable
17 Jan F-15E/USAF T-Bird 56/2 2 KIA/airfield attack
17 Jan A-6/USN Quicksand 12/2 2 POW/airfield/possible
18 Jan Tornado/Ital. AF Caesar 44/2 2 POW/airfield attack /no
18 Jan OV-10/USMC Hostage 75/2 2 POW/enemy troops/no
18 Jan A-6/USN Jackal 11/2 2 KIA/enemy port
19 Jan F-16/USAF Stroke 65/1 1 POW/Baghdad/no
19 Jan F-16/USAF Clap 74/1 1 POW/Baghdad/no
19 Jan Tornado/RAF Newport 15B/2 2 POW/airfield attack/yes
19 Jan F-15E/USAF Corvette 03/2 2 POW/Scud sites/possible
20 Jan F-14/USN Slate 46/2 1 POW, 1 Save/ escort/possible
22 Jan Tornado/RAF Stamford 01/2 2 KIA/radar site
23 Jan F-16/USAF Wolf 01/1 1 Save (fratricide)
24 Jan Tornado/RAF Dover 02/2 2 POW/airfield attack/no (fratricide)
24 Jan F-18/USN Active 304/1 1 Save/interdiction
28 Jan AV-8/USMC Cat 36/1 1 POW/enemy troops/no
31 Jan AC-130/USAF Spirit 03/14 14 KIA/enemy forces/no
02 Feb A-6/USN Heartless 21/2 2 KIA/crashed at sea
02 Feb A-10/USAF Uzi 11/1 1 POW/enemy forces/no
05 Feb F-18/USN WarParty 01/1 1 KIA/crashed at sea
09 Feb AV-8/USMC Jump 57/1 1 POW/enemy forces/no
13 Feb F-5/RSAF Hunter 26/1 1 POW/enemy forces/possible
13 Feb EF-111/USAF Ratchet 75/2 2 KIA/support/no
14 Feb Tornado/RAF Belfast 41/2 1 POW, 1 KIA/airfield/no
14 Feb 2 A-10s/USAF Enfield 37 & 38/2 1 POW, 1 KIA/enemy forces/no
16 Feb F-16/USAF Benji 53/1 1 Save
19 Feb OA-10/USAF Nail 53/1 1 POW/enemy forces/no
20 Feb OH-58/US Army Tango 15/2 2 KIA/recce/no
23 Feb AV-8/USMC Pride 16/1 1 KIA/enemy forces/no
25 Feb OV-10/USMC Pepper 77/2 1 POW, 1 KIA/enemy forces/no
25 Feb AV-8/USMC Jump 42/1 1 Save/enemy forces
25 Feb AH-64/US Army Unknown/2 2 Saves/enemy forces

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Table 2. (continued)
Date Aircraft/Service Call Sign/Crew Size Result/Target/Rescueable
27 Feb UH-1/US Army Unknown /4 3 KIA, 1 Save/support
27 Feb UH-60/US Army Unknown /6 6 KIA
27 Feb AV-8/USMC Magic 14/1 1 KIA/enemy forces
27 Feb F-16/USAF Mutt 41/1 1 POW/Rep Guard/no
27 Feb UH-60/US Army Bengal 15/8 3 POW, 5 KIA/Rep Guard/no

*In 2001, Pres. Bill Clinton changed the status of the pilot, LCDR Michael Speicher, to “Missing In Action.” See http://www
.nationalalliance.org. In 2002, the secretary of the Navy changed Speicher’s status to “Missing/Captured.” See http://www
.nationalalliance.org/gulf/secnavmemo.htm.

Among the POWs, who was rescueable? The official SOCOM

history of the war states: “How many guys were ‘rescueable’?
Many [aircrewmen] landed in areas of heavy Iraqi troop con-
centrations or even airfields and the enemy troops were able to
grab them before any effort could be made in their behalf.”45
Yet, one of the RAF pilots, Flt Lt Rupert Clark, stated that 30
minutes after he was shot down, he was in the base command-
er’s office.46
The A-10 pilots and AV-8 pilots were almost all shot down
right over enemy field units and captured within moments of
landing. One AV-8 pilot remembered that, “Based on our tar-
gets, we knew that we were going to be right in the midst of a
bunch of . . . people.”47
There is no military definition of what “rescueable” means.
Perhaps an objective definition would be that for a period of
time, they were down in an enemy-controlled area but not un-
der enemy control. It is hard to determine in each case what
that period was, but there were a few cases where survivors—
for some period of time—were in this situation.
Using that criterion, the recovered data shows that possibly
eight of the 30 crew members who became POWs were rescue-
able. That is 9.2 percent of the 87 crew members shot down.
Each situation deserves a review:
Hunter 26 (RSAF F-5). The pilot was down just north of the
Iraqi border. Rescue forces were in the area but did not make
contact for an unrecorded reason. He was reportedly captured
by the Iraqis.

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Source: 16 SOW History Office, Hurlburt Field, FL

Capt Tom Trask, who led one mission to rescue the crew of Slate 46, is shown
here as a lieutenant colonel and commander of the 20th Special Operations
Squadron. He is one of several squadron leaders who gained valuable experience
flying CSAR in Desert Storm.

Quicksand 12 (A-6 with a crew of two). The loss of their two

radios took away their ability to communicate with the rescue
forces before they were captured within an hour. They were
down in a dangerous high-threat area. Any attempt to do any
type of visual search would have been extremely risky.
Newport 15B (RAF Tornado with a crew of two). The crew was
in enemy territory for an estimated 14 hours, much of it at
night, before they were captured. Repeated calls on their sur-
vival radios and emergency beacons were not detected.
Corvette 03 (F-15E with a crew of two). The inability to ac-
curately locate the crew, coupled with the political problems of
the overflight of Syria, delayed the rescue forces. Once the po-
litical hurdles were cleared, the rescue forces tried valiantly to
get them. A Pentagon review of the Corvette 03 mission noted:
Complicating the entire effort were unreliable intelligence inputs. There
was never an accurate position fix and only one radio call was ever

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received authenticating 03’s status (on night two). This is the result of
no reliable, secure, radio/position locating device issued to aircrew or
compatible aircraft mounted locating equipment with any range and
accuracy.
Syrian intransigence on over-flight delayed any effort at least 2 days.
Had they been amenable, search aircraft would have at least been
launched to Syrian airspace in night two to fix 03’s position and initiate
a possible rescue.48

Slate 46 (F-14 with a crew of two). The pilot was rescued.

The RIO (radar intercept officer), Lieutenant Slade, could not
contact the rescue forces with his radio. MH-53s from the 20th
SOS entered the area twice but were unable to contact him.
In a best-case computation, if all eight above were truly res-
cueable, then adding in the number who actually were recov-
ered totals 16 crew members. That means eight out of 16, or 50
percent, of those who were rescueable actually were rescued.
Of the eight who were rescued:
• Two were recovered by helicopters on land (Slate 46 Alpha
and Benji 53)
• One was rescued by special operations forces at sea (Wolf
01)
• One was rescued by the Navy at sea (Active 304)
• One was recovered by a USMC ground team (Jump 42)
• One was recovered from a UH-1 by a US Army ground
team
• Two were recovered from an AH-64 by another helicopter
8. At no time were SOF aircraft “not available” for rescue
missions.
The initial mission assigned to SOCCENT was combat recov-
ery. Immediately upon arriving in-theater, MH-53s were put on
alert. Additionally, the first mission given to the Army Special
Forces teams and the Navy SEAL teams was combat recovery.
The AFSOCCENT, Col George Gray, and his director of opera-
tions, Col Ben Orrell, both stated emphatically that their heli-
copters were on alert at several locations throughout the war.
At no time did other SOF tasking interfere with this alert sta-
tus. That included helicopters from the Navy (HCS-4/5) and the
Army (the 3d/160th).49 The 3d/160th had come over expecting
special operations missions and had, at one point, complained

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about being held on combat rescue alert at the expense of other

tasking. The rescue of Benji 53 changed their thinking.50
Specifically, Colonel Orrell said, “There were times when we
had a certain number of aircraft committed to [rescue] and Col-
onel Johnson would be planning a Special Ops mission. We’d
have to pare down the number of aircraft we would have used
based on the fact that we had to have them on standby for
CSAR.”51
When asked if combat rescue was a secondary mission for
JTF Proven Force, Capt Steve Otto, from the 21st SOS at Bat-
man, stated, “That is absolutely false. For my firsthand experi-
ence with the 21st, we never came off of CSAR alert. We never
had any special operations forces tasking. [Combat rescue] was
our mission.”52
As for SOCCENT’s dedication to the combat recovery mis-
sion, Col George Gray stated after the war, “It was understood.
That was my thing. I was the Czar. I was the guy. We set every-
thing up as best as we thought we could do it. . . . When we
deployed out of Hurlburt for Desert Storm, our first and fore-
most mission was [combat rescue]. We developed a briefing and
took it to Horner. He blessed it. We took a crew around and
briefed every single unit in-theater that was going to be flying a
combat mission up north.”53
On some occasions, though, SOF aircraft were not dispatched
by the SOF commanders because they assessed the mission as
just too dangerous. Although coalition forces had quickly at-
tained air superiority in-theater, this had different meaning for
fixed-wing aircraft that can operate above 10,000 feet and heli-
copters that, by their nature, have to operate at low levels. Noted
one helicopter pilot, “Anytime you’re below 1,500 feet or above
three feet, you’re in what we call the ‘dead man’s’ zone.”54
Lt Gen Fred McCorkle, the deputy commandant of the Ma-
rine Corps for aviation, said, “Unlike jet bombers and fighters,
choppers often have to hover or land in hostile territory to do
their jobs. It is a pretty dangerous place to be, and you’re vul-
nerable. When you can fly 30,000 feet over the enemy, you can
feel pretty confident that you aren’t going to be shot. That isn’t
true when you’re flying at 1,000 feet or coming into an LZ [land-
ing zone]. You never know who’s going to be down there that
can do you in.”55

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Col Bennie Orrell understood the problem. He said:

I’m not kidding you; you could see those Paves [MH-53s] 50 miles off.
There was no hiding them. That’s a big ol’ slow moving target—I was
reluctant to go cruising in there in the daytime. There certainly may
have been a situation where we would have done it, but if you don’t
have a guy talking to you on the radio, it’s pretty hard to convince me
to send another two or three crews in there. . . . The only way we were
going to survive as a rescue force in that environment was to fly at
night. And I don’t think that the fast movers [fighter pilots] ever ac-
cepted the fact that we were not just going to come plunging in there in
daytime like we had done in Vietnam. Had we done that, we’d have lost
more than just that one [Bengal 15]. We would have lost lots of them.
It’s a tough call to make—whether George [Gray] is making it or whom-
ever is making it—to say that we can’t go until dark. . . . I salute George
for making those calls because there simply was no way to survive in
that environment.56

But helicopters were dispatched into Iraq for search pur-

poses when the threat assessment allowed, as was done for the
Bravo 20 team. All in all, Bennie Orrell felt that George Gray
was calling the missions just about right.57
It should be noted that during the conflict, zero personnel
were lost or killed on rescue missions directed by SOCCENT.
Bengal 15, a line Army crew, was shot down on a rescue mis-
sion, but they were dispatched from the TACC.
Recalling the BioTechnology study cited in chapter 1, Air
Force and Navy rescue forces rescued 778 downed aircrewmen
throughout Southeast Asia. In the process, 109 aircraft of all
types were shot down and 76 rescue personnel were killed or
captured. That meant that one rescue or support aircraft was
lost for every seven men saved, and one rescue troop was lost for
every 10 men saved. That was a high price to pay for rescue.
Col Jesse Johnson and Col George Gray personally oversaw
any commitment of SOCCENT assets to combat recovery mis-
sions. Most, they approved; some were turned down. Did they
call it right? Does this mean that they were far too quick to
withhold committing helicopters and crews?
As opposed to Southeast Asia, where the losses of rescue
personnel were significant, SOCCENT had a zero loss rate. This
met President Bush’s objective of minimum casualties.
Bengal 15 was shot down on 27 February when an Army
crew tried to rescue USAF Capt Bill Andrews. What is instruc-
tive about that mission is that when the SOCCENT commanders

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were called, they analyzed the mission and turned it down, rea-
lizing it was far too dangerous for a daytime rescue. The rescue
system was then short-circuited, and a helicopter—not from a
combat-recovery-trained and dedicated unit, but from an Army
line battalion—was launched from within the TACC into an
area that several people had said was too dangerous. The re-
sult was predictable. What George Gray and Jesse Johnson
knew would happen did, in fact, happen. This seems to indi-
cate that they were calling the missions about right.58
It all had to do with air superiority, of which General Horner
said:
[A]ir superiority is not a precise concept. And the process of gaining it is
no less fuzzy. What do you mean by air superiority, and how do you
know when you have got it? There is no handy chart that lets you plot
the x- and y-axis and find where the two lines cross. What I wanted to
do was operate freely over Iraq and not lose too many aircraft. Okay,
what does that mean? What is too many? . . . Free operation over Iraq
raises other issues. For starters, not every aircraft could be expected to
go everywhere. Or if it could go everywhere, it might not do that all the
time. . . . In other words, control of the air is a complex issue, filled with
variables.59

To the fighter guys and anyone else who could operate above
10,000 feet, the suppression of enemy MiGs and radar-guided
SAMs allowed them to do their jobs with relative impunity. But
the helicopter guys had to operate down low. They weren’t
nearly as worried about MiGs and SAMs as they were about
enemy guns and rifles or heat-seeking SAMs. That was their
threat. Colonel Gray had tried to make this point to the plan-
ners during Desert Shield.
As one rescueman wrote, “If you run across a platoon size of
deployed guys, they can shoot your butt right out of the sky,
and God only knows we couldn’t track divisions much less pla-
toons. A squad could put maybe a couple of rounds in you. . . .
a platoon, 35 or 40 guys, would with AK-47s just eat you up.”60
The AFSOC guys seemed to have a better understanding of
the elements of risk and reward in the combat recovery mis-
sion. One of them wrote, “If I thought the crews were doing
anything unsafe I would stop them. . . . Be . . . sure you recog-
nize the difference between taking an acceptable risk and an
outright unsafe situation. That is where common sense and
judgment are critical and experience must be your guide.”61

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One of the downed airmen himself, LT Jeff Zaun, understood

the problem clearly. He said of rescue, “the place that we were—
I could not get there at 400 knots. So how is a CSAR [helicop-
ter] going to get in at 50 or 100 knots? . . . You are telling me
that somebody is going to come in in a helicopter?”62
It was expressed even better by a fighter pilot who wrote after
the war that, “USAF electronic superiority allowed air suprem-
acy to be quickly achieved above 10,000 feet, but the numerous
Iraqi AAA pieces and shoulder-launched [heat-seeking] surface
to air missiles denied low-risk operations at lower altitudes.”63
The man who wrote that was Maj Bill Andrews in his thesis
at the School of Advanced Airpower Studies (SAAS) at Maxwell
AFB in 1995. He had license to write it; he had flown as Mutt
41 on 27 February 1991. It was his F-16 that was blown out of
the sky by a heat-seeking SAM. It was his rescue helicopter
that was destroyed by Iraqi AAA.
The history of CSAR in this conflict seems to suggest that
there are gradations to air superiority—that air superiority for
an F-15 is far different than air superiority for an MC-130, MH-
53, or UH-60. This history also seems to suggest that the AF-
SOC guys had the best comprehension of what the rescue
forces (helicopters) could and could not do, and they exercised
control over them to prevent what they felt would be unneces-
sary losses.
But Brig Gen Buster Glosson felt differently:
If I’m willing to lose [helicopters] as the commander, I should have the
prerogative to send that helicopter in there or send two or three in
there, understanding I may lose one of them. That’s my decision. It
should not be someone else’s decision. Who . . . anointed AFSOC and
promised them that they would have no losses in war? That the only
losses were going to come from the bomber pilots and the fighter pilots?
Where . . . did this philosophy come from? I am not saying you send
people into harm’s way just to say you did it. But many times . . . you
can assist the CSAR effort with distractions in a way that a helicopter
can sneak in and not have near the exposure.64

9. Making CENTAF responsible for CSAR and then with-

holding operational control of the combat recovery assets
violated the principle of unity of command.
Under USCINCCENT OPLAN 1002-90, General Horner, as
COMUSCENTAF, was the designated SAR coordinator (SC) with

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overall responsibility and authority for operation of the JRCC

and for joint SAR operations within the assigned geographical
area. As such, he was responsible for CSAR. His JRCC, located
within the TACC, had the authority to call upon any asset that
they controlled to do what needed to be done to rescue coalition
personnel down in enemy territory. This specifically included
all of the reconnaissance and intelligence assets needed to lo-
cate the survivors, but they did not have operational control of
the recovery helicopters. That operational control resided with
SOCCENT and the other service components.
This greatly concerned Buster Glosson. He recalled, “You may
say to Horner, ‘you have the responsibility for CSAR and SAR,’
but let there be no doubt, he was not confused about being to-
tally in charge when he had to call somebody and say, ‘Would
you please do the following?’ You are in charge when you call
somebody and say, ‘I want three helicopters on the island in the
center of the lake, 27 miles on the 236° radial from the center of
Baghdad, and I want them there tonight at 11 o’clock.’ ”65
The operational orders and supplements confused the issue,
for they seemed to imply that SOCCENT was responsible for
CSAR overall. This concerned Col George Gray. Several times,
he pointed out that his helicopters were combat rescue assets
and that SOCCENT could not accomplish any of the other func-
tions necessary to prosecute CSAR. All of that needed to be
accomplished by the JRCC working with the TACC. He and the
SOCCENT commander, Colonel Johnson, established three cri-
teria for launching their helicopters:
1. A location of the survivor(s).
2. Evidence of aircrew survival:
a. Visual parachute sighting, and/or
b. Voice transmission from the crewmember and au-
thentication.
3. A favorable enemy threat analysis.
Practically speaking, this meant that the JRCC did not have
control of all the assets it needed to recover personnel in enemy
territory, because SOCCENT would not launch helicopters un-
til it was satisfied that the mission was doable and surviveable
for its crews. This caused ill feelings between the JRCC and

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SOCCENT. The JRCC guys, Colonel Hampton in particular,

wanted to launch helicopters immediately. He said that, “Dur-
ing Desert Storm, I would have liked to have the authority to
launch recovery assets immediately. But we did not own the
assets, so you couldn’t just say ‘go launch.’ . . . Our concern
was to get the guy, to get there as soon as possible.”66
At several points during the Corvette 03 and Mutt 41 events,
JRCC personnel felt that the SOCCENT guys were not being
responsive or, worse yet, saw the JRCC, not as an overall the-
aterwide headquarters, but just an RCC for the Air Force.
The SOCCENT guys resented that point of view. They recipro-
cated the ill feelings. One SOCCENT commander noted, “We
didn’t like JRCC because they didn’t seem to know what . . .
they were doing. We did not understand what was going on in
their minds and they did not understand us. They didn’t trust
our judgment.”67
Yet it must be noted that none of the JRCC personnel had any
CSAR experience or had received any significant CSAR training
prior to deployment.68 To Lt Col Rich Comer, this was one of the
main deficiencies in our CSAR program in Desert Storm.69
Supporting this, Maj John Steube, the USMC augmentee to
the JRCC, said, “In the JRCC, nobody had any combat experi-
ence. There wasn’t a single person there who was a combat SAR
type. They were all the Scott AFB guys and they had two Navy
liaisons and two Marine liaisons and none of us had any com-
bat SAR experience. . . . There were a lot of shortcomings there.
It was obvious to me that CSAR was an afterthought in the
whole DESERT STORM experience.”70
Additionally, the JRCC commander, Lt Col Joe Hampton, was
never able to get the necessary communications links into the
JRCC or clearances necessary so that they could directly ac-
cess more highly classified information.71
Whether or not General Horner and hence the JRCC should
have had operational control of the helicopters for CSAR is a
valid question. The JRCC was also the Air Force RCC. If the Air
Force had deployed helicopters to the Gulf that were combat-
recovery capable, they could have been directly tasked by them,
and this issue would not have arisen. However, in the 1980s
the Air Force moved the aircraft most capable of doing that
mission to the AFSOC. That command now belonged to the

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SOCOM, and its units were deployed to the Gulf under SOC-
CENT. The ARS had less-capable aircraft and had just received
new aircraft, which could have been deployed in provisional
units. Its commander chose not to do so.
So the question hangs: If the JRCC had direct tasking au-
thority over the SOCCENT helicopters, would that have made a
difference for the crew of Corvette 03, or Quicksand 11, or New-
port 15 Bravo, or Slate 46 Bravo? Would this change have im-
proved the capability of the JRCC to locate its survivors?
To one helicopter pilot, LT Rick Scudder on the USS Sara-
toga, having the special operations forces guys do the combat
recoveries made a lot of sense. He remembered that:
It’s everybody’s job but there is a great gulf between normal operating
forces which was—then and now—the conventional forces, AF rescue,
Army to a certain extent—they teach personnel recovery. It’s not really
a hard core mission of [the Army’s], but they have tremendous capa-
bilities. . . and then there is [sic] the capabilities of SOF. They train to it.
They do it. They have aerial refueling capabilities. They have integration
capabilities with other types of special operations forces that are a total
breed apart in terms of philosophy, in terms of the threat they can le-
gitimately and prudently counter, in terms of the risk they are willing to
mitigate because of their extra training, their specialization, their spe-
cial equipment, the tactics and techniques that they have and use. I
have no bones with that.72

The fact remains that during Desert Storm, there was not one
headquarters responsible for and in control of all the assets
necessary for CSAR—location, authentication, and recovery. To
Buster Glosson, this was a travesty. He commented,
I think that not having the CSAR under the direct tasking order of the
air component commander is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. Give
me a break! We chop [assign] all air related weapons systems in a the-
ater to the air component commander except CSAR? Now how stupid is
that? . . . If those assets are going to be used for other than CSAR pur-
poses, they should be under the special ops commander. But when
there is a CSAR requirement whether they go or not should be at the
discretion of that air component commander and not at the discretion
of some other commander. It is just not right. It defies all logic of chain
of command and jointness.73

In retrospect, General Glosson offered a sober summation.

Regarding the SOCCENT helicopter crews, he said, “I want to
make this abundantly clear: there has never been a situation
where there were more forward-leaning, tougher and braver
people than the guys flying the CSAR [missions] in Desert Storm.

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I have nothing but the highest, total respect for them and their
willingness to do anything that I asked.”74
Addressing the command and control problem, he continued,
“The problem is at the commander level or the number two guy
that wanted assurance before they would generate much effort.
You can’t do that in CSAR if you are going to expect to be suc-
cessful. You will minimize the losses of the people trying to do
the CSAR but you will lose a lot of people you should have picked
up. And that is exactly what we did in Desert Storm.”75
So who was right, General Glosson or Colonel Gray? The loss
of Bengal 15 seems to support Gray. He and his senior airmen
were the experts on combat rescue. Within their community
resided vast amounts of “hands-on” experience hard learned in
the killing zones of Southeast Asia. Guys like Dale Stovall,
Benny Orrell, and Rich Comer had been there. They had been
in the hover while the bullets ripped. They knew what helicop-
ters flown by the bravest of crews could and could not do. Yet
General Glosson had a theater air campaign to wage and of-
fered another perspective: “You can’t always be so precise and
so regimented that you never have confusion or, as they say,
‘fog of war.’ If you do, you are going to become so regimented
that you are predictable. Commanders must keep the correct
balance.”76
Placing all of this historically, Glosson offered, “CSAR was
broke before the war because of a mismanagement and a failure
of the Air Force leadership. It was broke during the war because
of the CINC’s acquiescence to not use his fist and an anvil to
correct it, in the interest of harmony.”77
His commander, General Horner, seems to share his views.
But even though Horner was himself critical of the overall CSAR
effort in the war, he offered what appears to be the best single
assessment of CSAR in Desert Storm when he wrote, “In fair-
ness to the special operations forces [SOCCENT] commanders,
the paucity of CSAR missions can’t be blamed entirely on them.
First, the density of Iraqi air defenses has to be taken into ac-
count. Flying a helicopter into a near-certain shoot-down obvi-
ously made no sense. Second, several pilots were captured
shortly after parachuting over the Iraqi Army units they’d just
attacked. Third—and most important—few aircraft were actu-
ally lost in combat. Thus, little CSAR was actually needed.”78

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In addressing the lack of unity of command, he seemed to

support the feelings of Buster Glosson when he added, “The
next Chuck Horner to fight an air war had better pay close at-
tention to the way he (or she) organizes and controls the em-
ployment of his or her combat search and rescue efforts.”79
Overall in Desert Storm, CSAR appears to have been a mixed
bag. Because of advances in precision weaponry, satellite-based
GPS technology, countermeasures, and training, relatively few
coalition aircraft were shot down. Forty-three coalition aircraft
were lost in combat, mostly over high-threat areas. Eighty-
seven coalition airmen, soldiers, sailors, and marines were iso-
lated in enemy or neutral territory. Of that total, 48 were killed,
one is still listed as missing, 24 were immediately captured,
and 16 were exposed in enemy territory. Of those who survived,
most landed in areas controlled by enemy troops. Of the few
actually rescueable, eight were not rescued for a host of rea-
sons, but primarily because of limitations in CENTAF’s ability
to locate them accurately and in a timely manner. Additionally,
a lack of unity of command over all CSAR elements caused con-
fusion and a strained working relationship between the JRCC
and SOCCENT, which operationally controlled the actual com-
bat rescue assets. Regardless, the men who actually carried
out the rescue missions displayed a bravery and élan so com-
mon to American rescue forces in earlier wars.
After Desert Storm, these issues were examined in detail and
many changes were or were not made. In the not-too-distant
future, though, AFSOC forces would be used again to perform
the combat recovery mission in conflicts in the Balkans. Like a
phoenix, many of these same issues would resurface. But that
is another story to be told by another author.

Notes
1. Col Ben Orrell, interview by the author, 17 January 2002.
2. Chris Ryan, The One That Got Away (London, UK: Century Press, 1995),
41.
3. Perry D. Jamieson, Lucrative Targets: The U.S. Air Force in the Kuwaiti
Theater of Operations (Washington, DC: AF History and Museums Program,
Government Printing Office, 2001), 8.
4. Orrell, interview.

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5. GEN H. Norman Schwarzkopf with Peter Petre, It Doesn’t Take a Hero

(New York: Bantam Books, 1992), 418.
6. Tom Clancy with Gen Carl Stiner, Shadow Warriors (New York: G. P.
Putnam’s Sons, 2002), 437.
7. Amy W. Yarsinske, No One Left Behind: The Lt. Comdr. Michael Scott
Speicher Story (New York: Dutton Books, 2002), 106.
8. “Desert Storm, Final Report to Congress: Conduct of the Persian Gulf
War 1991,” Military History Magazine, April 1992, 177.
9. Rick Atkinson, Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War (Bos-
ton, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1993), 259.
10. Williamson Murray with Wayne Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf
(Baltimore, MD: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America,
1996), 128.
11. Michael R. Gordon and Gen Bernard E. Trainor, The Generals’ War:
The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf (New York: Little, Brown and Co.,
1994), 189.
12. John Tirpak, “The Secret Squirrels,” Air Force Magazine, April 1994.
13. Michael R. Rip and James M. Hasik, The Precision Revolution: GPS and
the Future of Aerial Warfare (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2002), 188.
14. Ibid., 121.
15. Ibid., 117.
16. James W. Canan, “The Electronic Storm,” Air Force Magazine, June
1991.
17. Lt Col William F. Andrews, Airpower against an Army (Maxwell AFB,
AL: Air University Press, 1998), 35.
18. Charles Allen, Thunder and Lightning: The RAF in the Gulf: Personal
Experiences of War (London, UK: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1991), 52.
19. Andrews, Airpower against an Army, 57.
20. Tim Ripley, “Desert Weasels,” United States Air Force Yearbook 1992, 60.
21. “Desert Storm, Final Report,” 179.
22. Murray with Thompson, Air War in the Persian Gulf, 79.
23. Ibid.
24. Tom Clancy with Gen Chuck Horner, Every Man a Tiger (New York: G.
P. Putnam’s Sons, 1999), 355.
25. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 90.
26. Clancy with Horner, Every Man a Tiger, 502.
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid.
29. Thomas A. Keaney and Eliot A. Cohen, Gulf War Air Power Survey (here-
after GWAPS), Summary Report, vol. 5, pt. 2 (Washington, DC: Government
Printing Office, 1993), 116.
30. Al Santoli, Leading the Way, How Vietnam Veterans Rebuilt the U.S.
Military: An Oral History (New York: Ballantine Books, 1993), 205.
31. Brig Gen Buster C. Glosson, interview by the author, 25 September
2002.
32. Darrel D. Whitcomb, The Rescue of Bat 21 (Annapolis, MD: Naval In-
stitute Press, 1998), 142.

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33. 1st Lt Jeff Mase, interview by the author, 9 April 2001.

34. LTC Pete Harvell, interview by the author, 29 January 2002.
35. Brig Gen Dale Stovall, interview by the author, 3 September 2001.
36. ICAO Circular 185-AN/121, Satellite Aided Search and Rescue–The
COPAS SARSAT System (Montreal, Canada: International Civil Aeronautical
Organization, 1986), 17.
37. Lt Col Richard Comer, interview by the author, 19 July 2000; and
Gordon and Trainor, The Generals’ War, 263.
38. Glosson, interview.
39. Rip and Hasik, Precision Revolution, 146.
40. Comer, interview.
41. CDR Patrick Sharrett et al., “GPS Performance: An Initial Assess-
ment,” Navigation Journal, vol. 39, no. 1 (Spring 1992), 405.
42. Comments by Maj Gen Rich Comer on this book, 2 February 2003.
43. GWAPS, 114.
44. Mr. James Williams, Info paper (ATZQ-AP-G), Subject: Aviation Units
deployed (Fort Rucker, AL: US Army Aviation Center, 17 April 1991).
45. Capt William LeMenager, HQ SOCOM History, “A Gulf War Chronicle,”
unpublished manuscript, January 1998, 37.
46. Maj Thomas E. Griffith, “Improved Combat Search and Rescue,” un-
published position paper procured from Lt Col John Blumentritt (Maxwell
AFB, AL: Air Command and Staff College, 15 October 1991), 2.
47. Capt John Walsh, interview by the author, 6 October 2000.
48. Gordon and Trainor, Generals’ War, 263.
49. Col George Gray, interview by the author, 3 May 2001; and Orrell,
interview.
50. Orrell, interview.
51. Ibid.
52. Capt Steve Otto, interview by the author, 30 April 2001.
53. Gray, interview.
54. Richard Whittle, “Missions Keep Choppers Flying in Face of Danger,”
Dallas Morning News, 8 March 2002.
55. Ibid.
56. Orrell, interview.
57. Ibid.
58. Ibid.
59. Clancy with Horner, Every Man a Tiger, 346.
60. Col James H. Kyle, USAF, retired, with John R. Edison, The Guts to
Try: The Untold Story of the Iran Hostage Rescue Mission by the On-Scene
Desert Commander (New York: Orion Books, 1990), 90; and History of the Air
Force Special Operations Command (Hurlburt Field, FL: [hereafter AFSOC
history], 1 January 1990–31 December 1991), 86.
61. Kyle with Edison, Guts to Try, 96.
62. LT Jeff Zaun, interview by the author, 17 March 2002.
63. Andrews, Airpower against an Army, 35.
64. Glosson, interview. Numerous of the AFSOF helicopter pilots were
shocked at this statement. As one responded, “Amongst the fighter guys,

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there is an attitude of ‘die to prove you are brave . . . and stupid;’” Comments
by Maj Gen Rich Comer on this book, 2 February 2003.
65. Ibid.
66. Lt Col Joe Hampton, interview by the author, 12 March 2000.
67. Comer, interview.
68. Steube, interview; and Hampton, interview.
69. Comments by Maj Gen Richard Comer on this book, 2 February
2003.
70. Steube, interview.
71. Hampton, interview.
72. Scudder, interview.
73. Glosson, interview.
74. Ibid.
75. Ibid.
76. Ibid.
77. Ibid.
78. Clancy with Horner, Every Man a Tiger, 394.
79. Ibid., 410.

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 Appendix

Comparison of
British and US Officer Ranks

NATO/US rank British Army & US Army/ Royal Air Force Royal Navy US Navy
code Royal Marines USAF & USMC (RAF)

OF-9/O10 General (Gen) General Air Chief Admiral (Adm) Admiral (ADM)
(GEN/Gen) Marshal (ACM)

OF-8/O9 Lieutenant- Lieutenant- Air Marshal Vice Admiral Vice-Admiral

General General (AM) (VADM) (VAdm)
(Lt Gen) (LG/Lt Gen)

OF-7/O8 Major-General Major General Air Vice-Marshal Rear-Admiral Rear Admiral

(Maj Gen) (MG/Maj Gen) (AVM) (RAdm) (Upper Half)
(RADM)

OF-6/O7 Brigadier (Brig) Brigadier Air Commodore Commodore Rear Admiral

General (ACdre) (Cdre) (Lower Half)
(BG/Brig Gen) (RDML)

OF-5/O6 Colonel (Col) Colonel Group Captain Captain (Capt) Captain (CAPT)
(COL/Col) (Gp Capt)

OF-4/O5 Lieutenant Lieutenant- Wing Commander Commander

Colonel (Lt Col) Colonel Commander (Cdr) (CDR)
(LTC/Lt Col) (Wg Cdr)

OF-3/O4 Major (Maj) Major Squadron Lieutenant Lieutenant

(MAJ/Maj) Leader Commander Commander
(Sqn Ldr) (Lt Cdr) (LCDR)

OF-2/O3 Captain (Capt) Captain Flight Lieutenant Lieutenant (Lt) Lieutenant (LT)
(CPT/Capt) (Flt Lt)

O1 Lieutenant (Lt) First Flying Officer Sub Lieutenant Lieutenant,

OF-1/ Lieutenant (FO) (SLt) Junior Grade
(1LT/1st Lt) (LTJG)

O2 Second Pilot Officer Ensign (ENS)

Lieutenant Second (PO)
(2Lt) Lieutenant
(2LT/2d Lt)

Note: Some services may use additional or alternate abbreviations. Those above are used throughout this publication
for standardization and clarity.

277

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 THIS PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK

chap1.indd 12 11/27/06 10:43:01 AM

 Abbreviations

ABCCC airborne battlefield command and control center

ACOC air combat operation center
ACR armored cavalry regiment
AFRCC Air Force rescue coordination center
AFSOC Air Force Special Operations Command
ALO air liaison officer
ARCENT Army component to CENTCOM
ARRG Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Group
ARRS Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service
ARRSq Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron
ARS Air Rescue Service
ASOC air support operations center
ATO air tasking order
AWACS airborne warning and control system
BCE battlefield coordination element
CAFMS computer-assisted force management system
CALCM conventional air-launched cruise missiles
CAS close air support
CBU cluster bomb unit
CENTAF Air Force component to CENTCOM
CENTCOM United States Central Command
CEP circular error probable, a statistical measure of
weapon accuracy
CINC commander in chief of a unified or specified
command; a combatant commander
CSAR combat search and rescue
DALS downed airman location system
DASC direct air support center
DOC designed operational capability
ELF electronic location finder
EUCOM European Command
FAF French Air Force
FAV fast attack vehicle
FOL forward operating location
FSCL fire support coordination line

279

abbreviations.indd 279 11/6/06 3:49:07 PM

 ABBREVIATIONS

GPS global positioning system

HARM high-speed antiradiation missiles
HASC House Armed Services Committee
HMA Helicopter Attack Squadron, USMC
HMM Helicopter Medium Squadron, USMC
INS inertial navigation system
IRCM infrared countermeasures
JFACC joint forces air component commander
JFC-E Joint Forces Command East
JFC-N Joint Forces Command North
JOC joint operations center
JSOACC joint special operations air component
commander
JSOC Joint Special Operations Command
JSOTF joint special operations task force
JTF joint task force
KFIA King Fahd International Airport
KKMC King Khalid Military City
KTO Kuwaiti theater of operations
MAC Military Airlift Command
MAG Marine air group
MARCENT Marine component to CENTCOM
MEF Marine expeditionary force
MLRS Multiple-launch rocket system
mm millimeter, a designation for the size of a
weapon
MTACC Marine tactical air control center
NASA National Aeronautics and Space
Administration
NAVCENT Navy component to CENTCOM
NRCC Naval rescue coordination center
NSOA National Special Operations Agency
NVG night-vision goggles
OPCON operational control
OPLAN operational plan
POL petroleum, oil, and lubricants

280

abbreviations.indd 280 11/6/06 3:49:08 PM

 ABBREVIATIONS

RAF Royal Air Force

RCC rescue coordination center
RSAF Royal Saudi Air Force
RWR radar warning receiver
SAM surface-to-air missile
SAR search and rescue
SARSAT search and rescue satellites
SARTF SAR task force
SLGRS small, lightweight GPS receivers
SOCCENT Special Operations Command component to
CENTCOM
SOCEUR Special Operations Command component of
EUCOM
SOCOM Special Operations Command
SOF Special Operations Forces
SOS special operations squadron
SOW special operations wing
SPACECOM United States Space Command
SPINS special instructions
STG special tactics group
STS special tactics squadron
STU secure telephone unit
TAC Tactical Air Command
TACC tactical air control center
TACON tactical control
TALD tactical air-launched decoy
TFS tactical fighter squadron
TFW tactical fighter wing
TOC tactical operations center
TPFDL time-phased force and deployment list
TRAP tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel
TSAR theater search and rescue
VA Attack Squadron, US Navy
VAQ Electronic Warfare Squadron, US Navy
VF/A Fighter/Attack Squadron, US Navy
VMA Attack Squadron, USMC
VMF/A Fighter/Attack Squadron, USMC

281

abbreviations.indd 281 11/6/06 3:49:08 PM

 ABBREVIATIONS

WGS World Geodetic System—the reference frame

defined by the National Imagery and Mapping
Agency and used by DOD for all its mapping,
charting, surveying, and navigation needs,
including its GPS “broadcast” and “precise”
orbits
WSO weapons system officer

282

abbreviations.indd 282 11/6/06 3:49:08 PM

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 Index
1st Armored Division, 174, 219, 222–24
1st Battalion of the 101st Aviation Regi-
ment, 71, 229
1st Battalion of the 227th Aviation Regi-
ment, 220
1st Battalion of the 5th Special Forces
Group, 202
1st Battalion of the 7th Marines, 216
1st Cavalry Division, 219–20
1st Marine Division, 209, 215, 217, 219,
242
1st Mechanized Infantry Division, 214
1st Special Operations Wing, 18–19, 21,
30, 46, 48, 50, 53, 76, 79, 127, 140
2d Air Division Staff, 27
2d Armored Cavalry Regiment, 219
2d Battalion of the 229th Aviation Regi-
ment (2/229), 230
2d Battalion of the 5th Special Forces, 65
2d Marine Division, 209, 213, 216, 218
2d Satellite Control Squadron, 66, 248
2d/7th Infantry Battalion, 236, 241
3d Air Rescue and Recovery Group, 15
3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, 213
3d Armored Division (Iraqi), 173–76, 213
3d Battalion of 160th Special Operations
Aviation Regiment, 65, 95, 117, 229
3d Marine Air Wing, 188, 208, 214, 242
4th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 181
6th Light Armored Division (French), 213
6th Squadron, Royal Air Force, 186
7 Squadron, Royal Air Force, 171
8th Special Operations Squadron, 46, 57
9th Special Operations Squadron, 46, 52
10th Special Forces Group, 74
10th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 82, 128,
206, 224, 234
17th Armored Division (Iraqi), 184, 193
291
index.indd 291
20th Special Operations Squadron, 21–
22, 31–32, 46, 48, 51–52, 58, 62, 64–
65, 70, 73–75, 90–91, 116, 171, 184,
257, 262–63
21st Special Operations Squadron, 85,
264
23 mm guns, 5
23d Tactical Air Support Squadron, 24
24th Mechanized Infantry Division, 213
30 mm fire/guns/cannons, 92, 151, 213,
224
37 mm guns, 5
39th Special Operations Wing, 74
40th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron,
1, 9, 15–16, 31
48th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW), 155
52d Tactical Fighter Wing, 73, 112
55th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron,
24
55th Special Operations Squadron, 46,
58, 68, 91, 143, 175, 179, 185
56th Special Operations Wing, 1, 13
71st Air Rescue Squadron, 47
71st Special Operations Squadron, 65,
109, 179
101st Airborne Division, 71, 213, 221,
224, 228
353d Special Operations Wing, 30, 35
390th Electronic Combat Squadron, 92
401st Tactical Fighter Wing, 113
614th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 114,
118, 157–58
706th Tactical Fighter Squadron AF Re-
serve unit, 81
1551st Air Rescue and Recovery Squad-
ron (ARRS), 18, 20
1720th Special Tactics Group, 36, 46, 95
1723d Special Tactics Squadron, 58, 162
1730th Pararescue Squadron, 36
11/6/06 3:50:13 PM
 INDEX
1986 Congressional Act, (Goldwater-
Nichols), 29, 34, 48
1987 Defense Authorization Bill, 29
7440th Composite Wing (Provisional), 85
A-1 Douglas Skyraiders, 2
A-6, 1, 87, 97, 106, 109–10, 142–43, 161,
178, 211, 262
A-7, 27
A-10, 27, 63, 81, 146–47, 150, 158, 167,
178, 186, 189, 194–95, 200, 208, 261
AAA, antiaircraft artillery, 11, 69, 72,
96–97, 100, 102–7, 110–12, 114, 117,
119–20, 124, 128, 131, 133, 135–36,
144, 155, 157, 171–72, 178, 182–83,
191, 210, 212, 217–18, 223, 225, 240,
247, 249–50, 267
Aberg, John, 197
AC-130 gunship, Spectre (See also Thug),
10, 174
ACOC, air combat operation center, 61
Acree, Cliff, 108, 161
Active 304/F-18, USN (I040), 169, 263
ad hoc task force, 110, 153
aerial wheel, 7
AFRCC, Air Force Rescue Coordination
Center, 15, 34, 57
AFSOC, Air Force Special Operations
Command, 31–32, 36–39, 46–50,
57–58, 65, 76–78, 134, 138, 140,
159–60, 164, 251–56, 258, 266–67,
269, 272, 274
AFSOCCENT, AF component of SOC-
CENT, 45–46, 53, 263
AG4 kill box, 178
AH-1, Army/Marine Cobra helicopter, 9,
108, 210, 215
AH-64, Apache helicopter, 70, 91, 220,
228, 230–31, 233, 236, 239, 259, 263
air campaign plan, 52, 54, 63, 67, 69,
82, 108, 121, 252, 254
Air Force Council, 25, 27
Air Force Cross, 3, 6, 8, 12, 46–47, 243
Air Force RCC, 60, 269
air liaison officer, 61, 213, 224
Air National Guard, 18, 35, 49
292
index.indd 292
Air Staff, 9, 21, 23–25, 27, 31, 33–34, 47,
49, 52–53, 83, 274
air superiority/supremacy, 67, 114, 154–
55, 168, 172, 249, 252, 264, 266–67
AK-47s, 62, 109, 204, 225, 266
Al Ahsa Air Base, Saudi Arabia, 61, 102
Al Asad Air Base, 142, 144
Al Busayyah, Iraq, 219
Al Firdos bunker, 185, 191
Al Hammar bog, 230
al Jabayl, Saudi Arabia, 169
Al Jaber Airfield, Kuwait, 101, 215
Al Jahra, Kuwait, 218
Al Kharj Air Base, 122
Al Qāim, 128, 130–36, 155, 171, 183
Al Tallil Airfield, 120
Al Taqaddum, 96, 104, 191, 247
Alaska, 35, 47
Ali Al Salem Airfield, Kuwait, 98
Al-Jouf, Saudi Arabia, 62, 64
ALO (air liaison officers), 61, 213, 224
ALQ-119/131/184/135 jamming pods,
169, 249
Amman, Jordan, 127
Andrews, Bill, 82, 158, 205–6, 225–31,
234, 243, 265, 267, 273–74
Ankerson, Robert, 167
antiradar jamming, 105
antiradiation missile, 5
AOR (area of responsibility), 54–57, 59,
62, 90, 141
Ar Rumaylah Airfield, 100, 167
Ar Rutbah radar site, 156
ArAr, Saudi Arabia, 62, 64, 75, 86, 89,
93, 116, 126, 136, 143–44, 146, 148,
171, 176, 186, 209
ARCENT, US Army Central Command,
45, 60, 208, 243
Army RCC, 60, 169–70, 183, 195, 199,
201, 223–24, 239
Army Special Forces teams/troops, 50,
68, 75, 134, 198, 263
ARRS (Aerospace Rescue and Recovery
Service), 15–18, 22–25, 27–28, 31, 34,
36, 40
ARS (Air Rescue Service), 20–21, 34–36,
39, 41, 46–47, 49, 57, 77, 252–53, 270
Arthur, Stanley, 111, 175
As Shuaybah, port of, 218
ATO (air tasking order), 85, 136
AV-8, 157, 172, 184, 211, 216–18, 223,
261
11/6/06 3:50:14 PM
 INDEX

Avenger 11/AH-64, US Army (I088), 239 Black Hole, 52–54, 67, 69, 86, 122
AWACS (airborne warning and control Black, Ken, 57
system), 38–39, 63, 85, 89, 94, 97, Blackwood, Jim, 227, 243
101–2, 104–6, 115–17, 119, 125, 128, Block 40 F-16C/Ds, 39, 139, 248, 256
142–43, 145–50, 152, 157, 171, 175, blood chit, 132
179, 187, 194, 196–99, 204, 226, Blue Flag, 252
233–36, 248, 256 Boomer, Walter, 218
Az Zubayr River, Iraq, 109 Boorda, Jeremy, 100
Bosnia, 76
B-52, 87, 94, 104, 113, 180, 257
BQM-74 unmanned drone aircraft, 71
Baghdad Billy, 187–88
Bradt, Douglas, 186
Baghdad, 70–71, 85, 93–94, 96, 113–14,
Bravo 10, 132, 155
119, 121–22, 128, 136, 142, 144,
Bravo 20, 155, 171–72, 255, 265
149, 185, 187–88, 191, 195, 199,
Bravo 30, 155
218, 240, 247, 250, 268
Brazen, British warship, 174
Baker, James, 44
Brelinski, Roger, 237
Baldwin, Sherman, 88, 159, 189
Brinson, Bill, 5, 12
Balkans, 272
British forces, 75, 140, 155
Ball, Jon, 157–158, 186, 222
Bryan, Bill, 205, 230–31, 233–34, 237–
Balwanz, Richard “Bulldog,” 170, 202–8
38, 241, 244
Barksdale AFB, LA, 98
Buccaneers, 169, 191
Barretta 11, 200
Burgan oil field, 215
Basra, Iraq, 104, 178
Burshnick, Tony, 25, 41
Batman Air Base, Turkey, 74
Bush, George H. W., 43, 64, 69, 85, 87,
Batson, Peter, 141
107, 167, 240, 265
Battle Force Yankee, (aka: CTF 155), 61,
Butler, Mike, 220
64
Butts, William, 234, 237
Battle Force Zulu, (aka: CTF 151), 60,
109 C-130, 18, 68, 140
Battle of Khafji, 176 C-141, 50
BCE (battlefield coordination element), C-17, 25
180, 228–29 C-5, 17, 50
Beard, Mike, 179 Caesar 44/Tornado, Italian Air Force
Bedouin camps, 95, 132 (I015), 107
Bedouin tribesmen, 116 CALCM (conventional air-launched cruise
Behery, Ahmed, 59 missiles), 98
Beirut, Lebanon, 18 CAP, combat air patrol, 117, 145, 247
Belfast 41/Tornado, RAF (I072), 191 Carlton, P. K., 16–17
Bengal 15/UH-60, US Army (I087/ Carter, Jimmy, 19, 21–22
M020), 224, 230, 232–34, 236–38, Cassidy, Duane, 27, 34
241, 259, 265, 271 Cat 36/AV-8, USMC (I047/M009), 172,
Bengal 505, 1, 10, 46, 139 258
Benji 53/F-16, USAF (I078/M017), 196, CBU-87 cluster bombs, 205
198, 202, 228, 259, 263–64 CENTAF (Central Command Air Force),
Bergan 23/A-4, Kuwaiti Air Force (I010), 45, 51–53, 57, 67, 86, 89, 116, 129,
102, 259 138–42, 153–54, 158, 170, 176–177,
Berryman, Michael, 172 187, 189, 212, 254–55, 267, 272
BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles, 71 CENTCOM (Central Command), 43
BioTechnology Inc., 9, 12 CEP (circular error probable), 121, 248
Bioty, John, 161, 184, 242 CH-3, 18
Black Hawks, UH-60s, 169, 195, 223– CH-46, 201
24, 231–32, 259, 267 CH-47, 21, 155, 171

293

index.indd 293 11/6/06 3:50:14 PM

 INDEX

CH-53, 11 110, 126

chaff (radar confusion reflectors), 105,
120, 172, 187
Checkmate division, 52
Cheney and McKay Trophy awards, 15
Cheney, Richard “Dick,” 15, 43–44, 99–
100, 185
Chevy 06, 129
chief of staff, 9, 21, 23, 31, 34, 47, 164,
189
Chinook, See CH-47
Chowder 21, 224
CIA, 28
CINC (commander in chief), 28–29, 122,
271
Clap 74/F-16, USAF (I024), 118, 121
Clark, Rupert, 193, 261
Clem, J. D., 131, 133–34, 163
close air support, 27, 201, 246, 250
CNN (Cable News Network), 136–37, 195
Cobras, See AH-1s
Cody, Dick, 71, 229, 231
Cohen, Bill, 29, 160, 188, 273
Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada, 252
Colier, Robert, 104
Combat 13, 12, 216–17
Combined Task Force, 60
Comer, Rich, 30–32, 41–42, 48–49, 51–
52, 58–59, 64, 68, 70–71, 73, 76–79,
82, 90, 116, 118, 152, 155, 162, 164,
171–72, 184, 188–89, 244, 257, 269,
271, 274–75
COMSOCCENT, 55
COMUSARCENT, 55
COMUSCENTAF, 55, 57, 77, 267
COMUSMARCENT, 55
COMUSNAVCENT, 55
Connor, Pat, 178
Cooke, Barry, 178
Cornum, Rhonda, 233–34, 237, 244
Corvette 03/F-15E, USAF (I028/M007),
103, 122–25, 128, 131–33, 135–37,
139, 141, 163, 187, 254–58, 262,
269–70
Costen, William, 110
Cox, Bruce, 115–16
CR (combat rescue), 61
Crandall, Richard, 130
crowd control weapons, 2
cruise missiles, 70–71, 89–90, 98, 119,
195, 248
CSAR plan, 44, 53–54, 57, 59, 67, 86,
CSAR (combat search and rescue), 3, 9–
10, 12, 25, 27–29, 33, 36, 39–40, 44,
47, 53–55, 57–62, 64, 67–68, 74–77,
79, 82–86, 89–90, 99, 102, 110, 126,
129, 138, 141, 145, 147, 149, 152–
53, 155, 158, 164, 170, 176–77, 184,
196, 198, 202, 205, 211, 226, 232,
234–35, 239, 245, 247, 252–59, 262,
264, 267–72, 274
CSAREXes (CSAR exercises), 67, 254
CTF 155, Red Sea Battle Group, 64
Cyclops 47 and 48/2 OV-1s, US Army
(I089), 239
Daily, Dell, 15, 20, 33, 51, 85, 99, 136,
197, 229
daisy-chain flying pattern, 150–51
DALS (downed airman location system),
23, 37–38, 61, 63, 139, 256
Daniel, Dan, 26–29, 237
Dark 13/Tornado, RSAF (I026/M004),
13, 119
Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 65
Day, Otis (Pointer 75), 235, 238
de la Billière, Peter, 140, 164
Decuir, Slammer, 137
Delta Force commandos, 209
Demers, Paul (Pointer 75), 235, 238
Department of Defense, 78, 164
Deptula, Dave, 53–54, 86
Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Op-
erations, 23
Desert Hawk 102/UH-60, RSAF (I042),
102, 169
Desert One, 19, 21, 28, 49, 81, 92, 161,
249, 258, 266, 270
DF (direction finder/ing), 97, 117–18, 130
Dhahban, Oman, 173
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 50
Diego Garcia, 59, 113, 180
Diyarbakur, Turkey, 200
DO (director of operations), 137
DOC (designed operational capability),
33, 39
Dodson, Eric (Benji 54), 196–97
Doman, Al, 227
Doppler navigation system, 9, 16, 66
Dover 02/Tornado, RAF (I039), 167
drones, 90, 94, 96
dumb bombs, 111
Dunlap, Troy, 237

294

index.indd 294 11/6/06 3:50:14 PM


Durham, Randy, 50, 52, 243
Dustoff 229, 183
Dwyer, Robert, 181
E-2 Hawkeye, US Navy, 109–10, 186
E-8 Joint STARS, 248
EA-6B, 142, 146, 249
east-west highway, from Baghdad to Jor-
dan, 149
Eberly, David, 122–25, 127–28, 130, 132–
33, 136–37, 139, 162, 254
Edwards, Jon, 180
EF-111 jammers, 92
Egyptian forces, 214, 219
Eichenlaub, Paul, 186
electronic war, 70, 267
ELF (electronic location finder), 37
Elsdon, Nigel, 104
ELT (emergency location transmitter
[beeper activation]), 90
emergency exfiltrations, 202
Enfield 37 and 38/A-10s, USAF (I073/
M016), 193
error probable, 38, 121, 248
EUCOM (European Command), 74
Euphrates River/valley, 221
Exercise Desert Force, 68
Exercise Search and Rescue, 68
F/A-18, 169
F-100, 9
F-105, 5
F-111, 98, 187, 251
F-111F, 182
F-117, 89–90, 112, 195, 240
F-14, 87, 132, 142–44, 263
F-15, 94, 117, 127, 186–87, 267
F-15E, 104, 111, 122, 125, 128–30, 163,
208, 254, 256, 262
F-16, 114, 118–19, 157, 196–97, 200, 206,
224–25, 227–28, 232, 234–35, 239–40,
245, 267
F-16C, 39, 139, 248, 256
F-18, 82, 87, 97, 141, 169, 172, 181,
216, 223, 259
F-4G Wild Weasels, 70, 72, 85, 114, 124,
182
F-5, RSAF, 185, 261
factory, the (F-16 geo-reference point), 225
Fairchild AFB, WA, 57
Falstaff 66/F-4G (I021), 111
fast forward air controller (FASTFAC),
182, 216, 223
fast mover aircraft, 172
295
index.indd 295
INDEX
FAV (fast attack vehicles), 64
Faylaka Island, Persian Gulf, 178
Fitzsimmons, Scott, 159, 222–26, 243
FLIR (forward-looking infrared system),
16, 24, 68, 182
Flood, Al, 71, 232, 244
FLOT (forward line of own troops), 138
FMU-139 electronic fuses, 157–58
FOB (forward operations base), 232
Fogleman, Ronald, 9
FOL (forward operating location), 197, 216
Folse, Dan, 95
Force Package Q, 113, 118
Fort Campbell, KY, 196
Fort Irwin, CA, 27
Fort Rucker, AL, 230, 243, 274
forward air controllers, 2, 4, 38, 109,
171, 181, 213, 215, 222
Forward Look, 27, 108
Fox, Jeff, 199–200
French Air Force, 61, 101–2, 241
FROG, free rocket over ground, 108,
172, 175
FSCL (fire support coordination line),
222, 228
FY84 Appropriations Bill, 25
Gabram, Doug, 230
Gale, Al, 130
Garlington, Jerry, 143, 148
Garvey, Philip (Bengal 15), 232–34, 237
GBU-15, laser-guided bombs, 167
G-day, beginning of the ground attack,
201
Gee, George, 87
Germany, 12, 73, 156, 253
Ghost 02/AC-130, USAF (I033), 153–54
Glosson, Buster, 52, 54, 77, 81, 200,
247, 254, 267, 273
Godfrey, Robert, 232, 234, 237
Goff, Randy, 145, 148
Goldwater-Nichols Act, 29, 34, 48
GPS (global positioning system), 38–39, 42,
44, 66, 70, 76, 78, 91, 113, 139, 149,
153, 162, 198, 202–4, 206–8, 211–12,
242, 245, 248–49, 256–58, 272–74
Gray, George, 13, 45–46, 48, 53, 65, 76,
102, 126, 130–31, 138, 140, 161,
189, 243, 263–66, 268, 274
Green Flag electronic warfare training,
251
Grenada, 26, 28
11/6/06 3:50:14 PM
 INDEX
Griffith, Tom, 122–23, 125, 127–30, 132,
136–37, 139, 254, 274
Gulf of Aden, 59
Gulf of Tonkin, 1
Gunfighter 126/UH-1N, USMC (I056),
126, 181
H-2/H-3 airfields, 121, 183
Hafar al Batin, 170
Hampton, Joe, 57–61, 63, 77–78, 85–86,
126, 129–32, 156, 159, 161–64, 180,
189, 198, 208, 226–28, 243, 269, 275
Hanoi, Vietnam, 8, 11, 86, 114
Harden, Grant, 103, 131, 133–36, 161,
163
Harding, Jim (Sandy 01), 4–7
Hardziej, Dennis, 92, 94
HARM (high-speed antiradiation missile),
138, 142, 182, 267
Harmon, Paul, 115–16, 162, 184, 189
Harris, Bill, 2
Harvell, Pete, 44, 48, 50–51, 54, 60, 63,
76–78, 138, 161, 163, 255, 274
Harward, Don, 95
HASC (House Armed Services Commit-
tee), 26, 28
HC-130, 2–3, 27, 35, 47, 52, 256
HC-130P/N Combat Shadows, 46
HC-7, US Navy helicopter squadron 7,
1, 36
HC-9, 36
HCS-4, Red Wolves, 64
HCS-4/5, Spikes, 64
HCS-5, Firehawks, 64
Health 67/Dalphin, RSAF (I085), 67, 220
Heartless 531/A-6, USN (I052), 178
Heath, Mike, 141
heat-seeking missile(s), 11, 68, 99, 101–2,
108, 172, 178, 184, 194–95, 212, 214,
216–18, 222–23, 226, 267
Hebein, Mark, 234–35, 238, 244
Helgeson, Larry, 47, 76
Hellfire missiles and rockets, 70
Hendrickson, Dean, 88
Henry, Larry “Poobah,” 70–72
HH-3 school, Kirtland, NM, 28
HH-3, 15, 28, 35–36, 47, 65
HH-53 Jolly Greens, 9
HH-60A, 25
HH-60D Nighthawk, 22
HH-60E, 25
HH-60G Pave Hawk, 24
296
index.indd 296
HH-60H Seahawk, 36
Hicks, Stephen, 193
high bird, backup, 4
highway of death, 219
HMS Brazen, 174
HMS Cardiff, 174
HMS Gloucester, 174, 218
Ho Chi Minh Trail, 1, 5, 10, 24, 128, 140
Hodler, Dan, 57
Holland, Donnie, 105
Homan, Mike, 151
home in/homing in, 37, 72, 97, 145,
151, 178, 256
homing missiles, 2
Honey Badger, 21–22
Horner, Charles A. “Chuck,” 43, 48, 51–
52, 55–56, 58–59, 62, 69–70, 72, 75,
78–79, 81, 85–86, 99, 101, 112, 121–
22, 137–38, 154, 159–60, 163–64,
167, 170–71, 174, 189–90, 195, 209,
212, 249–50, 264, 266–69, 271–75
Hostage 75/OV-10, USMC (I016/M002),
108–9, 258
Houle, Ed, 128–29, 131, 163
HSL-44, 157
HUD (heads up display), 157
Hulk 46/B-52, USAF (I055), 180
HUMINT (human intelligence), 202
Hunter 26, 160, 185–86, 258, 261
Hunter, Guy, 108
Hunter, Russ, 95, 160
Hurlburt Field, FL, 76–77, 159, 262, 274
Hussein, Saddam, 68, 83, 88, 107, 121,
167, 173, 193, 211, 240, 245–47
Iceland, 35, 253
IFF (identification, friend or foe), 93, 96
Iguana 70/MH-3, USAF (I019), 109
I-Hawk missile batteries, 69
III Corps (Iraqi), 215
imagery intelligence, 106
INS (inertial navigation system), 24, 66,
113, 147, 149–50, 153, 225, 256–57
Incirlik Air Base (AB), Adana, Turkey, 74,
85, 102–3
Indian Ocean, 180
Initiative 17, 26
Inspector General’s office, 23
Internal Look, war game/exercise, 44, 252
Iran, 18–20, 28, 44, 46, 63, 121, 155, 176–
77, 274
Iran-Iraq War, 33, 173
11/6/06 3:50:14 PM

Iraqi air defenses/defenders, 71, 88, 222,
240, 247, 271
Iraqi Air Force, 51, 67, 85, 112, 142,
155, 157, 168
Iraqi civilians, 191
Iraqi ground units, 108, 193
Iraqi gunners, 71, 108, 111, 213
Iraqi interceptors, 96
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, 43
Iraqi military commanders, 241
Iraqi SAMs, 88, 135, 145, 210
Iraqi tanks, T-72 tanks, 67, 182, 194–
95, 209, 213, 224
Iraqi units, 67, 86, 108–9, 177, 193, 195,
213, 220–21, 224, 228–29, 239, 271
Iraqi-Syrian border, 134
IRCM (infra-red countermeasures), 68
ISOPREP (isolated personnel report), 131,
229
Israel, Israelis, 107, 121, 141, 173
Italian Air Force, Italians, 107, 186
J-3, 44, 48, 50, 54
Jaber Airfield, Kuwait, 101, 215
Jackal 11/A-6, USN (I020), 109–10
Jaguar, Omani Air Force (I048/M010),
173
Jaguars, French Air Force, 102, 213
Jalibah, Iraq, 221
Jamerson, James, 74, 136
Japan, 18, 35
JCS (Joint Chiefs of Staff), 52, 77, 221
JFACC, 250
JFC-East (Joint Forces Command East),
213
JFC-North (Joint Force Command North),
213
Johnson, Bo, 31–32
Johnson, Jesse, 46, 133, 138, 227, 265–
66
Johnson, Paul, 145, 147
Joint Special Operations Task Force, 21,
176
Jolly Green 32, 3–5, 10, 12
Jolly Green 62, 4–5
297
index.indd 297
INDEX
Jolly Green(s), collective term, 3–5, 10–12,
135, 253
Jones, Devon, 142–44, 146–53, 246
Jordan, 63, 127, 132, 149, 192
Jordanian border, 183
JP.233 cluster weapon, 104
JRCC (Joint Rescue Coordination Cen-
ter), 55–61, 63, 67, 75, 77, 84–86,
89–90, 94–95, 97, 99, 101, 105, 107,
109, 116, 119, 125–27, 129–32, 137,
141–45, 156–57, 160–62, 164–65,
175, 185, 188–91, 194, 196, 198–201,
207–8, 220, 223, 226–28, 239, 241–
45, 253, 258, 268–70, 272
JSOACC (joint special operations air
component commander), 46, 53, 65
JSOC (Joint Special Operations Com-
mand), 21
JSOTF (Joint Special Operations Task
Force), 21, 176, 183–84, 196, 209
Jump 57/AV-8, USMC (I064/M014),
184, 258
jungle penetrator, 7
Jupiter 01/Jaguar, FAF (I009/M001), 101
KARI, Iraqi air defense force nickname,
69
Kayo 01, 117
KC-10 tanker, 147, 149, 152
KC-135 tankers, 85, 145
Ketchie, Scott (Bengal 505 Bravo), 1
KFIA (King Fahd International Airport),
65
Khafji, Saudi Arabia, 174
Khalid, Lieutenant General, 62, 214
Khalij Al Kuwayt (bay in middle of Ku-
wait), 218
Khmer troops, 11
Kibrit Airfield, Saudi Arabia, 180
kill box(es), 170, 178, 181–82, 193, 199
Killer Scouts, 181–82, 189
King 27, 3
King Abdul Aziz AB, Saudi Arabia, 216
King Fahd AB, 152
Kingsley, Michael, 90, 92, 143, 148–49,
151
Kinnear, Neil, 91–92, 159–60, 190
Kirtland AFB, NM, 18, 20–21, 28
KKMC (King Khalid Military City, Saudi
Arabia), 62, 65, 95–96, 145, 179, 196–
98, 222, 228, 238
Klingele, Mike, 220
11/6/06 3:50:14 PM
 INDEX

Koh Tang, island of, 11–13, 21 MARCENT (Marine Forces Central Com-
Korea, 12, 35, 253 mand), 45
Korean War/conflict, 37, 252 Marine All-Weather Attack Squadron 224, 1
Koritz, Tom, 105 Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squad-
KTO (Kuwaiti theater of operations), 67, ron 369, 181
77, 113, 159, 181, 193, 244, 272 Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 165,
Kuwait City, 43–44, 51, 59, 62, 67, 69, 78, 201
84, 86–87, 90, 94, 98, 101–2, 104, 107– Marine RCC, 60, 101, 170
8, 154, 157–59, 167, 173, 176, 178, Marine Tactical Air Control Center, 60,
182–84, 193, 195, 206–7, 209, 211–15, 156
217–21, 223, 240, 244–46, 259 Marks, John, 213
laagers, or protected camps, 63 Martin, Corby, 12, 62, 82, 90, 115, 171
Lady Ace 03/CH-46, USMC (I080), 201 Masirah, Oman, 157
Laos, 1, 46 Mason, Herb, 79, 243
laser-guided bombs, 98, 111–12, 157, Matney, Ken, 57
167, 191, 248 Maverick guided missiles, 111
Lebanon, 18, 26, 28 Maxwell, Dave, 231
LeMenager, William, 162–63, 171, 188, Mayday, 104, 108, 125, 127, 129, 157,
274 175
Lennon, Tom, 182 MC-130, 18–19, 116, 133, 136, 152,
Lennox, Garry, 156 183, 253, 267
Leonik, Robert, 90 MC-130E Combat Talons, 46
Libya, 1986 raid, 96 McCarthy, Eugene, 180
Liles, A1C Bill, 7, 12 McClellan AFB, CA, 31, 34, 36
Limited Night Rescue System, 9–11, 15– McCorkle, Fred, 264
16, 22 McPeak, Merrill, 47
Locher, Jim, assistant secretary of de- Medal of Honor, 6, 8
fense, 29 MEDEVAC (medical evacuation), 180,
Locher, Roger, 8, 47 183, 209, 223
Locks, Joel, 197, 208 Medina Division, 182
LORAN navigation system, 66 MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force), 218
low bird, 4, 8 MH-3, 65, 109
low-light-level television, 9 MH-47, 26, 95, 185, 223
LPA survival vest, 106 MH-53 Pave Low, 47, 51–52, 62, 68, 82,
Luck, Lieutenant General, 229 103, 118, 127, 130, 136, 148, 151,
Lunger, Ted, 28–29, 41 155, 171–72, 256–57, 267
LZ, landing zone, 264 MH-53J Pave Low III, 26
M-1 tanks, 224 MH-60, 58, 206, 209
M-2 Bradley fighting vehicles, 224 MH-60G Pave Hawk, 46
MAC (Military Airlift Command), 15–16, MIA (missing in action), 160, 259
18, 23–25, 27, 31, 34, 41, 56 Middle East, 57
MacDill AFB, FL, 41, 50, 52–53, 78 Millcreek 701/AH-1J, USMC (I054/
Madden survival kits, 23 M013), 180, 258
MAG (Marine Air Group), 184 Miller, Eric, 178–79
Magic 11/AV-8, USMC (I036), 157 Mina Abd Allah, Kuwait, 217
Magic 14/AV-8, USMC (I086/M019), 223, miniguns, 5–6
227, 259 Minish, Tim (Moccasin 05), 62, 82, 116–
Magnum, 182 18
Magnus, Mike, 167 Mission/Incident numbers (M###/I###),
Mall, William, 24, 40 90
Maple Flag, training exercise, 252 MK 36, 109

298

index.indd 298 11/6/06 3:50:15 PM


MLRS (multiple-launch rocket system),
214
Mobil 41, 132
Moccasin 04, 149
Moccasin 05, 116–17, 144–46, 149, 151–
52
Montgomery, Tom, 197–98, 208
Moore, Royal, 214
Morrison, Scott, 57
Motorola, 157
MTACC (Marine Tactical Air Control
Center), 60
Mudaysis Air Base, 171
Mushait Air Base, 186
Mutt 41/F-16, USAF, 205, 224, 228,
259, 267, 269
Nail 51, 230, 234–35
Nail 53, OA-10, USAF (I079), 199
Nail 55, 179
napalm, 6
NAS Norfolk, VA, 36
NAS Point Mugu, CA, 36
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space
Administration), 15, 22
Nasiriyah, Iraq, 202
National Command Authorities, 23
National Special Operations Agency, 28
NATO, 85
Naval Air Systems Command, 9
naval rescue coordination center, 60
NAVCENT (Naval Forces Central Com-
mand), 45, 60, 111
Navy SEALs. See SEALS.
Nellis AFB, NV, 12, 27, 35
Newport 15B/Tornado, RAF (I027), 120,
262
Nicaragua evacuation missions, 18
Nichol, John, 100–101, 160
night-recovery capability, 9
Nimrod, RAF Nimrod Detachment, 61,
63, 109, 173, 180
Ninth Air Force, 57
NKP (Nakhon Phanom) Air Base, Thailand,
1–2, 4, 7, 9–10, 16, 31
North Vietnam, 8–9, 20, 36, 47, 81, 135
North Vietnamese, 2, 130, 140
Norwich 02/Tornado, RAF (I008), 100,
259
Norwich 21/Tornado, RAF (I011), 104,
259
299
index.indd 299
INDEX
NRCC (naval rescue coordination cen-
ter), 60, 97, 109
NSOA (National Special Operations Agen-
cy), 28–29
Nunn, Sam, 29
NVG (night-vision goggles), 21, 31, 65,
94, 141, 180, 184, 197, 250
O’Boyle, Randy, 50, 52, 54, 70, 77, 81–
83, 120, 127, 137, 158
OA-10, 84, 199–200, 222, 224–26
ODA 525, Army Special Forces team,
202, 205–6, 257
OH-58, 170, 201, 220
OH-58C, 220
Okinawa, Japan, 18
Olson, Pat, 222–23
OPCON (operational control), 29, 34, 56,
60–61, 64–65, 75, 106, 196, 267–69
Operation Desert Storm, 10, 88, 90, 177
Operation Eagle Claw, 19, 22, 26, 46
Operation Earnest Will, 32
Operation Just Cause, 33, 48
OPLAN 1002-90, 44, 46, 54, 57, 77, 267
OPLAN 1021-90 BASE CASE, 57
Orrell, Ben, 3–8, 12, 46, 70, 75–76, 79,
127, 163, 198, 208, 245–46, 263–65,
271–72, 274
Osan Air Base, South Korea, 12
OSC (on-scene commander), 4, 117, 135,
194, 196, 223, 274
Otto, Steve, 103, 130–31, 133, 161, 163,
264, 274
OV-10, 108, 215, 217–18
Özal, Turkish President Turgut, 74, 85
P-3 Orion, 109, 156
PACAF (Pacific Air Force), 33
Pachmayr 03 and 04, 194
Palmgren, Lornie, 227, 243
Patriot missile, 85, 193
Patterson, Robert, 27, 30, 208
Pave Hawk, HH-60G, 24
Pave Imp, 16
Pave Low III, 17, 26
Pave Low, 16–18, 20–22, 24, 26, 31, 33,
35, 40, 62, 85, 92, 118, 131, 151,
184, 250
Pave Star, 16
Pentagon, 53, 139, 262
Pepper 77/OV-10, USMC (I084), 217
Persian Gulf War, 76–79, 159–64, 188–
90, 207–8, 242–43, 273
11/6/06 3:50:15 PM
 INDEX
Persian Gulf, 32, 44, 59–60, 68, 76–79, 89,
111, 157–64, 167, 169, 178, 181, 188–
90, 201, 207–8, 223, 242–43, 273
Peters, Dan, 211, 216
Peters, John, 100, 160
Phylis, Steve, 194–95
PJs, pararescuemen, 5, 10, 16, 36, 46,
58, 68, 102, 116, 134, 151
plinking, See tank plinking
Pointer 75, See Day/Demers
POL (petroleum, oils, and lubricants), 105
Poobah’s Party, 71–72, 90, 94, 96, 250
Powell, Colin, 52, 73, 185, 195, 221, 240
POWs, 11, 20, 68, 109, 139, 161, 241–
42, 259, 261
PR (personnel recovery), 15, 27, 55, 59–
60, 160, 188, 207, 242, 270
PRC-112, 37, 87, 106, 112, 139, 143,
145, 200, 255–57
PRC-90, 37–38, 63, 88, 125–26, 138,
143, 147, 179, 185, 196, 204, 206,
255, 257
Pribyla, Ken, 76–77
Pride 16/AV-8, USMC (I083/M018), 211,
259
PRN-021 satellite, 44
Proven Force, 73–75, 79, 85–86, 102–3,
106, 126–27, 130–31, 133, 159, 161,
191–92, 199–200, 264
Pulsifer, Ben, 90
Puma helicopters, 61
Python 50/MH-47, 160th SOAR (I003), 95
Qatari forces, 219
Quang Tri, Citadel at, 8
Quicksand 12/two A-6s, USN (I013),
105, 256, 262
radar-controlled guns/sites, 72, 182
radar-warning receiver (RWR), 118, 124,
150, 172, 198
RAF Nimrod, See Nimrod/Nimrod de-
tachment
Ramstein Air Base, Germany, 12
Ras Al Mishab, 62, 65, 75
Ratchet 75, EF-111A, USAF (I071), 186–
87
RC-135 “Rivet Joint,” 38, 110, 126, 130,
152, 248
RCC (rescue coordination center [all
forces]), 15, 34, 55–56, 59–61, 75, 86,
101, 157, 169–70, 181, 183, 191, 195,
199, 201, 208, 223–24, 239, 269
300
index.indd 300
Reagan, Ronald, 22, 29
Red Flag exercises, 27, 251
Red Sea, 59, 61, 64, 83, 87, 89, 105, 158
Republican Guard, 67, 86, 104, 113,
139, 170, 211–13, 215, 220–21, 223–
24, 227, 232
Rescue Force Structure Plan, 33, 38, 41
RH-53 Navy helicopter, 19
RIO (Radar Intercept Officer), 263
Rivera, Manuel, 157
Rivet Joint, See RC-135
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 50–52, 58, 61, 68,
97, 137, 156, 185
Roberts, Harry, 118, 162
Rockeye, aka: Mk-20, 105
ROE, rules of engagement, 135
Rogers, Steve, 229, 238, 243–44
Roland missile, 105–6, 120
roll-back technique to destroy enemy air
defenses, 69
Royal Air Force, 51, 61, 100, 104, 120,
141, 156, 158, 162, 167, 169, 171,
173, 188, 191, 207, 241, 255, 258–
59, 261–62, 273
Royal Navy, 109, 174
RSAF (Royal Saudi Air Force), 51, 61,
64, 109, 119, 169, 185–86, 220, 241,
258–59, 261
Rusho, Mike, 231–32, 244
Ruth, Bob, 128, 131, 137, 139, 163
RWR (radar warning receiver), 198, 236,
249
Ryan, Chris, 155, 164, 188, 272
Ryan, Thomas, 25
S-2, 229
SA-2, 2, 72, 105, 118, 124, 142, 191, 251
SA-3, 98, 105, 115, 124, 240
SA-6, 98, 105, 118, 134, 154
SA-7, 96, 102, 178
SA-8, 154, 171–72
SA-16 heat-seeking missile, 101
SAAS, School of Advanced Airpower
Studies, 267
Saddam, See Hussein, Saddam
Safwan Airfield, Iraq, 241
Salman Air Base, Iraq, 201
Salmonson, Eric, 213
SAM sites, 2, 72, 89, 96, 114–15, 122,
124, 128, 133, 144, 171, 182, 191,
199, 236
SAM suppression, 96, 104–5, 114
11/6/06 3:50:15 PM

Sam’s Town, 122, 133
SAMs (surface-to-air missiles), 69, 72, 88,
94, 103, 105–6, 110, 112, 135, 140,
145, 150, 155, 178, 210, 226, 235,
247, 249, 266
Sanborn, Russell, 184–85
Sandy 01 (Maj Jim Harding), 4
Sandy 57 and 58, (Paul Johnson and
Randy Goff), 58, 145, 147
Sandy on-scene commanders, 27
SAR controllers, 56
SAR, civilian or peacetime, 12, 15–16, 18,
25, 28–29, 33, 35, 41, 48, 51, 54–56,
59–60, 97, 108, 128, 132, 136–37,
139, 170, 173, 235, 258, 267–69
Saravane, Laos, 10, 12
SARC (search and rescue coordinator), 61
SARLO (SAR liaison officers), 56
SARSAT, Search and Rescue Satellites,
38, 126, 256, 274
SAS (Special Air Service, [UK]), 140–41,
155, 171, 177, 183–84, 246
SATCOM (satellite communication), 102,
134
Saudi Arabia, 44, 49–53, 58, 61, 63–65,
81–82, 90, 100, 102, 106, 119, 142,
149, 170, 173–75, 180, 193, 216, 245
Saudi-Iraqi border, 70, 89, 140, 176
Saudi-Iraqi-Kuwaiti border, 170
Saudi-Kuwaiti border, 178
Saudis, 51, 58, 141, 153, 186
Sawahil, Kuwaiti barge, 65
SC (SAR coordinator), 55–56, 75, 267
Schwarzkopf, H. Norman, 43–44, 48–52,
55, 67, 71, 76, 85–86, 92, 99, 101,
107, 121–22, 138, 140–41, 154, 158–
59, 162, 170, 172, 191, 211, 214,
220–21, 240–41, 273
Scott AFB, IL, 15–16, 34, 57, 269
Scott, Scottie, 124
Scud missiles, Scuds, 67, 107, 113, 121–
22, 128, 139–41, 147, 153, 173, 177,
183–84, 193, 254
Scudder, Rick, 83–84, 87, 112, 159, 162,
270, 275
Sea Skua missiles, 174
SEALs (Sea, Air, Land, US Navy special
forces), 64, 68, 75, 82, 157, 169
Seeb, Oman, 61
Serbia, 76
SH-3 US Navy helicopter, 2, 36, 169, 180
Shaibah Airfield, southern Iraq, 104
301
index.indd 301
INDEX
Shaikh Isa, Bahrain, 60, 214
Shaw AFB, SC, 57
Shawnee, 117
Shelton, Hugh, 231
Shipman, Jerry, 10, 13, 16–18, 20–21,
23, 40–41
Shotgun 212, 217
Shott, 229
Shozda, Matt, 131, 135–36, 162–63
Silkworm, 218
Slade, Larry, 142–47, 246, 256, 263
Slate 46/F-14, USN (I031/M006), 132,
142, 144–45, 147, 151, 164, 246,
251, 256–58, 262–63, 270
SLGRs (small lightweight GPS receivers),
66, 257
Small, Joseph, 217
SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regi-
ment), 65, 78, 95, 117, 183, 229
SOCENT (Special Operations Command
Central), 46
SOCEUR, 133
SOCOM (Special Operations Command),
21, 23, 26, 29–33, 38, 41, 45–48, 50,
76–78, 141, 162–63, 188, 252, 261,
270, 274
SOF (special operations forces), 1, 15, 18,
20, 22–24, 26–27, 29–30, 33–34, 47–
48, 50, 60, 68, 70, 73, 77, 92, 138–39,
158, 184, 186, 197–98, 254–55, 263–
64, 270–71
Somalia, 74–75
Son Tay Prison, North Vietnam, 20, 24
Southeast Asia conflict, 11, 18, 252
Soviet Union, 72, 121
SPACECOM (Space Command), 66, 153
Spade 50, 157
Spain, 180
Special Planning Group, 52
Spectre 17 rescue, 16
Speicher, Michael, 97–99, 101, 141, 159–
61, 189, 261, 273
Spellacy, David, 217–18
spider routes, 62
SPINS, special instructions for CSAR,
84–85
Spirit 03/AC-130, USAF (I051/M011),
175, 258
spoiling attack, 173
Springfield 17 and 18, 145
SS Mayaguez, 11
Stamaris, SSG Daniel, 234, 237
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 INDEX
Stamford 01/Tornado, RAF (I035), 156
Stamford 11/Tornado, RAF (I030/M005),
141, 258
Stenevik, Robert, 65
Steube, John, 77, 156, 164, 239, 243–44,
269, 275
Stewart, Robert, 50, 52, 120
Stillwell, Joe, 57
Stiner, Carl, 40, 76, 79, 141, 161, 164,
189, 273
Stophel, Gerry, 158, 226, 243
Storr, Dale (Uzi 11), 178–80, 257
Stovall, Dale, 1, 3–6, 8, 15, 21, 40–41, 47–
48, 76, 134–35, 163, 256, 271, 274
Strategic Air Campaign, 52, 67, 108
Stroke 65/F-16, USAF (I023/M003), 114–
15, 117, 121, 143, 162, 247, 258
Stumpf, Bob, 96
Sunliner 403/F-18, USN (I005), 97, 99,
259
Sweet, Bob, 191, 193–95, 207
Syria, Syrians, 71, 103, 126–27, 130–35,
155, 262
Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, 64
TACON (tactical control), 51, 60, 64, 156
Tactical Air Command, 17
Tactical Air Control Center, 51–53, 56–57,
60–63, 75, 85, 99, 113, 120–21, 127,
129, 143, 156, 169–70, 174, 180, 185,
217–20, 226–29, 240, 250, 265–66,
268
Taif Air Base, Saudi Arabia, 94, 187
TALD (tactical air-launched decoy), 94
Tallil, 120, 221
Tango 15/OH-58, US Army (I081), 201
Tanjib, Saudi Arabia, 216
tank plinking/plinking, 182, 195
Task Force Normandy, 70, 75, 86, 89–
91, 96
Task Force Papa Bear, 215
Task Force Ripper, 215–16
Tawakina Division, 193
T-Bird 53, 104
T-Bird 56/F-15E, USAF, 104, 254
Tchepone, Laos, 1
TELS mobile launchers, 122
terrain-following-and-avoidance radar, 24
Thailand, 1, 9, 15–16, 47
Thelin, Todd, 197
Thomas, Scott (Benji 53), 202, 228
Thome, Mike, 233, 237–38, 244
302
index.indd 302
Thug, North Vietnamese nickname for
AC-130, 140
thunder run missions, 183
Tice, Jeff, 114–18, 162, 247
Tiger 53/F-15, RSAF (I070), 186
Tiger Brigade, from 2d Marine Division,
213–14, 218
Tilford, Earl, 8, 12
TOC, tactical operations center, 232
Tomahawk cruise missiles, 71, 89
Tonkin Gulf, 1–2, 36
Tornado/JP.233 combination, 168
Tornadoes, (British, Italian, and Saudi),
72, 100, 104, 107, 111, 120–21, 156,
167, 169, 186, 191, 213
TOT, time over target, 90, 122
TOW (tube-launched optically-tracked
wire-guided) missile, 215
TPFDL (time-phased force and deploy-
ment list), 44, 46
tracer rounds, 119–20
TRAP (tactical recovery of aircraft and
personnel), 60
Trask, Tom, 77–78, 143–46, 148–52,
160, 164, 262
TSAR, theater SAR, 28–29, 33
Tucker, Mark, 35, 41, 49, 76
Turkey, 18–20, 63, 73–75, 84–86, 102–3,
106, 126, 130–31, 136, 149, 199–200
Turkish-Iraqi border, 131
Turner, Charles, 110
Turner, Steve, 129
Twenty-third Air Force, 23–24, 27, 29–
31, 34, 36, 41
UH-1, 18, 60, 183, 223, 238, 259, 263
UH-1N, 181
UH-60, 169, 195, 223–24, 231–32, 259,
267
UH-60A, 24–25
Umm Qasr Naval Base, Iraq, 109
Underwood, Reginald, 223
URC-64 radios, 37
US Army Rangers, 183
US Army VII Corps, 72
US Congress, 25–26, 29, 78, 162, 242,
273
USCINCCENT OPLAN 1002-90, 54, 77,
267
11/6/06 3:50:15 PM
 INDEX

USCINCCENT, Commander in Chief, US Viper, 229–34

Central Command, 54, 77, 267 VMA-331, 201
USS Blue Ridge, 60, 109 VMFA-314, 235
USS Bunker Hill, 181 VMO-2, 108–9, 161
USS Caron, 169 Waddington, David, 120
USS Coral Sea, 1 Wadi al-Batin, 220
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, 44 wadi, 145–46, 220
USS Guam, 221 Walsh, Scott, 159, 216–17, 242, 274
USS Independence, 44 Warden, John, 52–53, 252
USS Iwo Jima, 221 Warmonger, 224
USS John F. Kennedy, 61 Warparty 01/F-18, USN (I061), 181
USS Leftwich, 109 Warparty 02, 181
USS Midway, 88 Weaver, J. V. O., 50
USS Nassau, 157, 201, 221, 223 Weaver, Paul, 175
USS Nicholas, 157, 165, 175 Weeks, Kevin, 156
USS Paul F. Foster, 89 Welch, Larry, Air Force chief of staff, 31
USS Ranger, 109 Welsh, Mark, 181, 189
USS Roosevelt, 169, 178 Wetzel, Rob (Quicksand 12 Alpha), 105–
USS Saipan, 18 6, 256
USS San Jacinto, 89 WGS-84, worldwide geo-referencing sys-
USS Saratoga, 83, 96–97, 105, 270 tem 1984, 39, 153
USS Tarawa, 193 Wilbourn, James “LZ,” VMA-542, 211
USS Trenton, 75 Wild Weasel, See F-4G
USS Wisconsin, 169, 218 Wilson, Greg, 81
Uzi 11/A-10, USAF (I053/M012), 178– Wilson, Steve “Foose”, 53
79, 193, 257–58 Wolf 01/F-16, USAF (I038/M008), 157,
VA-35, 84, 88, 105 169, 258, 263
VA-36, 178 WSO (weapons system officer), 98, 125,
Vandenberg AFB, CA, 44 132
VAQ-136, 88 Wyatt, Lee, 81
Venom 505, 169 XVIII Airborne Corps, 202, 209, 213,
vertical-assault aircraft, 201 221, 223–24
VFA-81, 97
Vietnam War, 11, 13, 36–37, 83, 109, Yeosock, John J., 214
young tigers, 12
252, 254
VII Corps, 72, 199, 213–14, 219–21, Zaun, Jeff, 84, 88, 105–6, 159, 161, 267,
223–24, 228, 239 274

303

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 Combat Search and Rescue in Desert Storm

Air University Press Team

Chief Editor
Jerry L. Gantt

Copy Editor
Tammi K. Long

Cover Art and Book Design

Steven C. Garst

Illustrations
L. Susan Fair

Composition and
Prepress Production
Vivian D. O’Neal

Quality Review
Mary J. Moore

Print Preparation
Joan Hickey

Distribution
Diane Clark

inside backcover.indd 1 11/6/06 3:50:33 PM